Covance

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Covance Inc. (Template:Nyse), formerly Hazleton Laboratories America, Inc., with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies, according to its own website, with annual revenues over $1 billion, global operations in 18 countries, and over 7,000 employees worldwide. It became a publicly traded independent business after being spun off by Corning, Inc. in 1997.

Under the name Covance Research Products Inc. (CRP), based in Denver, Pennsylvania, the company also deals in the import and sale of laboratory animals. It is the single largest importer of primates in the U.S. and the world's largest breeder of laboratory dogs. It owns two dog-breeding facilities, two primate centers and a rabbit-breeding facility.

The company has recently been the subject of controversy following allegations of primate abuse in its laboratories in Germany and the United States, and previously in connection with a potential outbreak of the Ebola virus.

1 Controversy
- 1.1 Ebola virus
- 1.2 Alleged animal abuse
2 See also
3 External links

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Controversy

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Ebola virus

Covance, known as Hazleton Laboratories in 1989, was at the center of a major scandal involving a strain of the Ebola virus. In November 1989 at the Hazleton Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia, lab monkeys were found to have carried Ebola virus from the Philippines. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intervened to eradicate the infected animals, burn the complex down, and avoided a potentially disastrous outbreak. Afterwards, in February 1990, a number of infected monkeys were shipped to Hazleton facilities in both Virginia and Texas. This strain was also found to be airborne. More Reston ebolavirus infected monkeys were discovered in 1992 in Siena, Italy and at the Texas Hazleton facility again in March 1996.

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Alleged animal abuse

Image:600-restraint-tube4.jpg Image:Covance Undercover 1.jpeg

Recently in 2005, the company has had negative press coverage since German journalist Friedrich Mülln, working undercover at a German Covance facility in Münster, obtained photographs, video, and other evidence of cruelty to monkeys and other animals. This gave rise to the "Close Covance" (Covance Schliessen) animal rights campaign.

The laboratory in Münster belongs to Covance Laboratories GmbH and specializes in reproduction toxicology and primate toxicology, which includes testing on pregnant animals. The company is responsible for around half the primate experiments in Germany.

After parts of Mülln's footage were shown on German television and in major newspapers, Covance filed a lawsuit, leading a German court to forbid further distribution of the material. The publication ban led to major protests from animal-rights advocates and anti-censorship activists.

A first ruling confirming Covance's claims was partially reverted by a higher court's ruling that the right of the public to be informed on the subject prevailed over the company's privacy rights. The video footage may now be displayed publicly, albeit not in the form of the existing TV edition and — inexplicably — it may not be used by animal-rights groups.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has also started a campaign denouncing Covance's methods of animal testing, following an undercover investigation in the company's laboratories in Vienna, Virginia in 2004–05. [2]

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