Huntingdon Life Sciences

Huntingdon Life Sciences

Huntingdon Life Sciences' official logo
Industry	Contract research organisation for the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, crop protection, chemical, veterinary and food industries.
Number of locations	United Kingdom, United States, Japan
Area served	Global
Key people	Brian Cass, Managing Director
Number of employees	>1,600
Website	Huntingdon Life Sciences

Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is a Contract Research Organisation (CRO) founded in 1951 in Cambridgeshire, England. It has two laboratories in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. With over 1600 staff, it is now the largest non-clinical CRO in Europe. In September 2015, Huntingdon Life Sciences, Harlan Laboratories, GFA, NDA Analytics and LSR associates merged into Envigo.

In 2009, HLS was bought outright and is now in private ownership. Prior to this, the latest Annual Report (2008) showed that the company had revenues of $US242.4m and an Operating Profit of 14.8%.

Although HLS is the third-largest non-clinical CRO in the world, it is probably better known to the general public as the target of a high-profile animal rights campaign. The campaign, in the main, has been orchestrated by the animal rights group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC)

HLS has two facilities in the UK (Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Eye, Suffolk), one in the USA (East Millstone, New Jersey) and an office in Japan (Tokyo).

Huntingdon Life Sciences was founded in the UK in 1951 as Nutrition Research Co. Ltd., a commercial organisation that initially focused on nutrition, veterinary, and biochemical research. The original facilities were split over two locations; the main offices were within Cromwell House in the town of Huntingdon, Cambs, UK; and the main laboratories were at the Hartford Field Station (just over a mile away). It then became involved with pharmaceuticals, food additives, and industrial and consumer chemicals. In 1959 it changed its name to Nutritional Research Unit Ltd. The company benefited in the early 1960s from increased government regulatory testing requirements, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1964 it was acquired by the U.S. medical supply firm of Becton Dickinson.

In April 1983, Becton Dickinson created Huntingdon Research Centre PLC. It then offered four million American depositary receipts (ADRs) for sale at $15 each, representing the company's entire interest in Huntingdon. In 1985, as it began to expand its operations, the company changed its name to Huntingdon International Holdings plc. In that year it established Huntingdon Analytical Services Inc. to conduct business in the United States.