Covance

Covance

Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD), with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is a contract research organization (CRO) providing drug development and animal testing services. According to its website, it is one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, with annual revenues of over $2 billion, and over 11,000 employees in more than 60 countries. It provides the world's largest central laboratory network, and employs a global team of clinical trial professionals and cardiac safety experts. It became a publicly traded company after being spun off by Corning Incorporated in 1996. In 2011 it was listed as one of the top 100 employers by the Diversity Employers Magazine.

Under the name Covance Research Products Inc., based in Denver, Pennsylvania, the company also deals in the import, breeding and sale of laboratory animals. It breeds dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, non-human primates, and pigs, and runs the largest non-human primate laboratory in Germany. The company became the subject of controversy following allegations in 2003–2005 by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that non-human primates were being abused in its laboratories in Germany and the United States. No violations of the law were found by the authorities in the first case, and a small fine was levied in the second. In response, the company drew up a new welfare code to guide its treatment of laboratory animals.