CRL · Earnings call · 2026Q2T · Full report

China Regulatory and Trade Risk

CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. · 2026-08-05 · Importance 31 · Surprise 42

Management said Western clients have not yet materially moved regulated work to China following the U.S. Department of Defense list and WuXi’s inclusion on the no-entity list. Discussions with clients in the regulated space are occurring, but remain limited, while most potentially affected Chinese work is early-stage chemistry and biology that Charles River no longer performs. Management described uncertainty and a wait-and-see approach, noting that biotech clients have not yet acted in a major fashion to bring early-stage work back from China. Chinese CRO pricing for work serving Western customers has moderated closer to Western pricing, although it remains lower because of language, time-zone, and other complexities.

Key facts

• CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. has ongoing discussions with some clients about work potentially moving to China, but Western clients are not yet taking regulated work to China, so discussions are limited.