Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL), a leading provider of pre-clinical research products and services to biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, introduces the Endosafe-PTS.

The PTS is a portable test system based on the Limulus Ameboecyte Lysate (LAL) assay. The system utilizes disposable cartridges loaded with FDA-licensed LAL reagents and a handheld spectrophotometer. Testing can be performed at the point of sample collection; quantitative LAL results are available in about 15 minutes. That's about 45 minutes less than the conventional chromogenic LAL test.

The PTS is easy to use - just pipette samples into a cartridge, press the enter button, and read the results displayed on the screen of the reader. The system can detect between 0.05-5 EU/mL and 0.10-10 EU/mL. Results can be printed or downloaded to a central PC.

Pending FDA approval for in-process and final product release testing, the PTS can be used to troubleshoot problematic products and to get a quick read on in-process samples and raw materials. In addition, the PTS can be used in research laboratories for water and sample testing in R&D applications.

"The PTS system allows us to bring a faster assay to our QC customers in a point-of-use format," said Foster T. Jordan, CRL's Executive Director, InVitro Detection Systems. "We envision that the same technology platform will have application in other markets where microbial detection is important to the end user."

To see a video presentation of the PTS, visit our website at www.criver.com/pts or call 1-877- CRIVER1 for more information.