Charles River Laboratories

Components and weights: switching costs 35 percent, scale and cost advantage 25 percent, intangible assets and regulatory know‑how 25 percent, efficient scale 10 percent, network effects 5 percent.

Switching costs (80/100): once a sponsor starts GLP tox or multi‑study preclinical programs with a provider, re‑running protocols, re‑validating methods and resetting on regulatory documentation is time‑consuming and risky; Charles River’s integrated DSA plus RMS supply increases friction to switch.

Scale and cost advantage (80/100): CRL’s breadth across RMS, DSA, Microbial Solutions and global footprint in 20+ countries allows asset utilization, cross‑selling and procurement leverage that smaller CROs struggle to match.

Intangibles (75/100): decades of regulatory track record, colony quality controls, proprietary rapid endotoxin testing platforms and specialized assays are hard to replicate. Efficient scale (75/100): in many geographies, local capacity for certain tox and specialty studies is naturally limited, supporting rational pricing.

Network effects (55/100): modest, via breadth of client base and scientific datasets, but not a classical network.

Risks to moat: 1) policy and scientific shifts to non‑animal methods that reduce in vivo work over a long horizon, 2) supply concentration in non‑human primates despite vertical integration via Noveprim, 3) price competition if biopharma consolidates vendors.

Overall, multiple reinforcing moats with long life, though we haircut durability for NAMs and policy risk.