In the world of lab-mouse breeders, only a few players are in the big leagues. In recent years, a few mouse breeders have partnered with companies that create designer transgenic mice made to researchers' specifications: Charles River Laboratories in Wilmington, Mass., the world's largest mouse producer with more than $570 million in revenue from mouse sales, and Taconic, a company that started out of an ex-biochemists' barn.
Until last November, when a client wanted a custom-made mouse, both companies would license that work to a partner company: GenOway for Charles River, and Artemis for Taconic. But at the end of last year, Taconic acquired majority shares of Artemis and can now generate custom mice in-house. Taconic says the change will make it easier and faster for customers to get exactly what they need.
Custom-mouse generation is a huge area, says Nell Newton from Hoover's, a business information company. "As biopharmaceutical ...
