Charles River Laboratories (CRL; Wilmington, MA)—a provider of animal models for disease research—has made two strategic acquisitions, boosting its repertoire of preclinical drug-testing services. In January, CRL purchased Pathology Associates International (Frederick, MD) for $37 million, providing the company with expertise in disease models, which complements CRL's own strength in this area. In February, CRL purchased Primedica (Worcester, MA) from Genzyme Transgenics (Framingham, MA) for $52 million, which filled existing gaps in its drug efficacy and safety testing services. Eric Schmidt, biotech analyst at SG Cowen (New York), says that both acquisitions fit well with the company's stated goal of being a leading provider of preclinical drug testing services for the research and biopharmaceutical community, and are expected to be accretitive to earnings in 2001. The deals are also timely given the imminent flood of genomics-derived drug targets that drug companies will find hard to digest, says Joseph Dougherty of Lehman Brothers (New York).