Charles River Laboratories Schedules Fourth-Quarter 2002 Earnings Release and Conference Call.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

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WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 2, 2003

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) will release fourth-quarter and full-year 2002 financial results on Monday, February 3, 2003, after the market closes. A conference call has been scheduled to discuss the results on Tuesday, February 4, 2003, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Investors will have the opportunity to listen to a live webcast of the conference call through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.criver.com. To listen to the webcast, please go to the website at any time before the call but at least fifteen minutes prior, to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. For those who cannot listen to the live webcast, a replay will be accessible through the website approximately two hours following the conference call and will remain available until Tuesday, February 11, 2003.

Charles River Laboratories, based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, is a leading provider of critical research tools and integrated support services that enable innovative and efficient drug discovery and development. The Company is the global leader in providing the animal research models required in research and development for new drugs, devices and therapies. The Company also offers a broad and growing portfolio of biomedical products and services that enable customers to reduce cost, increase speed, and enhance productivity and effectiveness in drug discovery and development. Charles River's customer base spans over 50 countries, and includes all of the major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as many leading hospitals and academic institutions. The Company operates 76 facilities in 16 countries worldwide. For more information, visit the Company's web site as http://www.criver.com.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements. This document includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, expect, estimate, plan, and project' and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements, and the company expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: acquisition integration risks; special interest groups; contaminations; industry trends; new displacement technologies; outsourcing trends; USDA and FDA regulation; changes in law; continued availability of products and supplies; loss of key personnel; interest rate and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; and changes in generally accepted accounting principles. A further description of these risks, uncertainties, and other matters can be found in the Risk Factors detailed in the Company's registration statement on Form S-3 as filed on April 9, 2002, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.