Covance
From Freepedia
Covance (NYSE: CVD), 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 17 countries, and approximately 6,700 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, Colorado, 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 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, which 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.
Friedrich Mülln also says that the staff at Covance consists mostly of untrained assistants, who attend a three-day workshop before being allowed to work with the animals.
See also
External links
- Flash-Website about Covance
- Official webpage of Covance, Inc.
- Official webpage of CRP, Inc.
- Covance Cruelty
- Covance Undercover
- Alleged abuse of monkeys, filmed undercover by PETA inside Covance, 2004-5
- The Campaign Against Covance
Categories: NPOV disputes | Companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange | Pharmaceutical companies of the United States | Animal liberation movement | Animal experimentation | List of CROs
