Charles River to Acquire Genetic Models Inc.

Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--July 20, 2001

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Charles River Laboratories, Inc., today announced the completion of the acquisition of Genetic Models, Inc. (GMi). GMi, headquartered in Indianapolis, offers proprietary and disease-specific rat models used in biomedical research. GMi's novel research models are used to find new treatments for disease conditions such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease.

The signing of a definitive purchase agreement to acquire GMi was announced by Charles River on July 5. Charles River paid $4 million in cash to acquire all of the stock of GMi, which had revenues of approximately $2.5 million last year (2000), and no outstanding debt. The acquisition is expected to be nominally accretive to Charles River's earnings in 2001, and $0.01 next year.

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 15 countries worldwide.

This document contains "forward looking statements." Such statements 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, including acquisition integration risks, special interest groups, biosecurity contaminations, industry trends, new displacement technologies, outsourcing trends, USDA and FDA regulation, changes in law, special interests groups, continued availability of products and supplies, personnel and control, and others that are described in the Risk Factors contained in Company's SEC filings, including on Form S-3, as filed on July 5, 2001. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward looking statements, and otherwise claims the safe harbor protections for forward looking statements afforded under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.