Harlan Laboratories is a leading provider of essential,
pre-clinical and non-clinical contract research, research models,
lab animal diets, and services to the pharmaceutical, biotech,
medical device, agrochemical, and chemical industries, as well as
universities, government, and other research organizations. The
company’s focus is on providing customers with products and
services to optimize the discovery and safety of new medicines and
compounds. Harlan Laboratories is a privately held company
headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana with over 3,100 employees in
12 countries.
History
Howard P. Harlan founded the company in 1931 in Indianapolis,
Indiana to supply the life sciences industry with laboratory animal
models. From 1931 until the time of his death in 1961, Mr. Harlan
expanded his business throughout the Midwest. In 1961, Hal P.
Harlan, his son, assumed responsibility for the operations. The
business was incorporated in 1962 under the name of Harlan
Industries, Inc. (HII) and later changed in July, 1981 to Harlan
Sprague Dawley, Inc. Majority interest in the company was sold to
Genstar Capital in 2006 for continued growth and
expansion.
Acquisitions and Expansions
1979 – Spartan Research Animals, Haslett, Michigan.
1980 – Acquired GIBCO Animal Research Laboratories in Madison,
Wisconsin which included the following operations:
- The former Sprague Dawley Company
- The former A.R. Schmidt Company
- Teklad Standard Diets
- Teklad Research Diets
- Teklad Trucking
1981 – M.A. Laboratory Animals, Walkersville, Maryland, was
purchased from the Whittaker Corporation of Whittier,
California.
1983 – TIMCO Breeding Laboratories in Houston, Texas, was acquired
from the Texas Medical Center.
1984 – Engle Laboratory Animals, Inc. in Farmersburg, Indiana and
Laboratory Supply Company, Inc., of Indianapolis, Indiana were
acquired.
1985 – Harlan Bioproducts for Science, Inc. was established in
Indianapolis to manufacture custom immunological and biological
products and research services.
1985 – The company became an international corporation with the
purchase of OLAC Limited of Oxfordshire, England to supply models
in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and
Israel.
1986 – Southern Animal Farms in Prattville, Alabama was purchased
to support government institutions and universities in the
Southeast United States. The Holtzman Company in Madison,
Wisconsin, producer of the Holtzman albino rat, was
acquired.
1986 – The Central Institute for Breeding of Laboratory Animals
(CPB) in The Netherlands was acquired to expand operations in
Continental Europe.
1986 – Completed construction of a new maximum barrier laboratory
animal facility in Frederick, Maryland to serve East coast
customers including the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland.
1988 – Blue Spruce Farms in Altamount, New York, known for
producing the Long-Evans outbred rat, was purchased.
1989 – Premier Laboratory Diets in Bartonville, Illinois was
purchased. Premier was the manufacturer of the well-known
Wayne Diets.
1989 – In Europe, Porcellus Animal Breeding Limited in Heathfield,
England and Riom Laboratories-CERM in Riom, France were
acquired.
1990 – A new maximum barrier laboratory animal facility was
constructed and opened in Houston, Texas.
1992 – Dominion Laboratories in Dublin, Virginia was
acquired.
1993 – International expansion continued with operations
established in Germany, Italy and Israel.
1994 – Nossan s.r.l., Milan, Italy was purchased. Significant stock
and strain expansion accomplished through acquisitions from the
Hannover Institute in Hannover, Germany, and the TNO Institute in
Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
1995 – Interfauna companies in the U.K., Germany, and Spain were
purchased.
1996 - Expansion in Somerville, New Jersey, with the establishment
of a new facility dedicated to production of isolator maintained
animals required for oncology research.
1997 – Opened a new laboratory animal production facility in Mexico
City, Mexico.
1997 – A new state of the art laboratory animal facility was
constructed and populated in Horst, The Netherlands.
1999 – Harlan Bioservice for Science was formed in Walsrode,
Germany.
2004 – RCC Ltd., in Itingen, Switzerland was acquired to expand
contract research services for the pharmaceutical, chemical, and
agrochemical industries in Europe and Asia.
2005 – Genstar Capital acquired Harlan Sprague Dawley, Inc. as a
company in a growing, vital industry with continued growth
opportunity.
2006 – Steve Sullivan, the former head of Covance’s global clinical
diagnostics division, is appointed to serve as President and CEO of
Harlan.
2007 – Safepharm Laboratories, Shardlow, United Kingdom is acquired
to expand contract research services into the chemical
industries.
2008 – The company unites as Harlan Laboratories, Inc. with all
legal entities initiating a name change to become one company with
one vision to help our customers do research better.