Company: CRL
Filing Date: 2025-04-02
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-030908
Chunk: 107

Company: CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-02
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 107
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 law. Our company was identified as a VIP client of Vanny Bio-Research, the Cambodian farm implicated in these activities. Consequently, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has restricted the entry of Cambodian monkeys unless they are proven to be captive-bred, resulting in over 1,000 of our Cambodian-origin macaques being held in legal limbo. Nonetheless, we have imported approximately 8,000 live macaques into Canada within the past 24 months and re-exported tens of thousands of these specimens to the U.S. The SEC continues to investigate our acquisition of monkeys from Asia 1 , and our recent imports of Cambodian-origin macaques into Canada are also under scrutiny. Imported primates from Vietnam have been linked to a tuberculosis outbreak in the EU, and in 2023, the CDC reported a new TB strain arriving in the U.S. from Asian primates. Additionally, shipments of Cambodian-origin macaques have carried bacteria classified by U.S. officials as a Tier 1 Select Agent due to 1 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100682/000110068223000018/crl-20230701.htm. 80 its potential lethality. Our company asserts that “[k]nowing the exact health status of your research model colonies is vital to achieving valid and reproducible research results” and that it conducts “routine health surveillance on our animal colonies.” However, it does not share primate health statuses transparently on its website as with other species. 2 Expanding primate importation presents significant public health and safety risks, as well as potential damage to our company’s reputation and business. Increased transparency is essential for maintaining corporate integrity and supporting responsible shareholder engagement. We urge shareholders to vote in favor of this responsible resolution. YOUR COMPANY’S RESPONSE The Board has carefully considered this proposal, as it did in 2024 and 2023 with substantially similar proposals that failed, and continues to believe that the adoption of this proposal is not in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders. The use of non-human primates (NHPs) is fundamental to foundational scientific research and understanding on how to prevent and treat emerging infectious diseases, including the successful development of every COVID-19 vaccine and the work of major academic medical centers. NHPs are also necessary for the development of the tens of thousands of drug products currently in preclinical development—including for cancer, diabetes, and a myriad of rare diseases. The ongoing success of Charles