[4] Charles River Laboratories is often criticized by animal rights activists who condemn the company's usage of dogs and non-human primates for pharmaceutical purposes.

Charles River launched the Humane Care Imperative in 2002, designed to raise awareness and train employees on animal welfare's importance.

In 2008, Charles River signed a ten-year contract to partner with the National Cancer Institute and opened a facility in Frederick, Maryland.

In April 2019, Charles River announced would cease its San Diego operations, moving the work to one of its sites in Northern California.

[12] In 2010, Charles River Laboratories attempted to acquire WuXi PharmaTech, a China-based contract research organization, but the offer was withdrawn when the deal faced opposition from several large Charles River investors, including Relational Investors, JANA Partners, and Neuberger Berman.

[13] From 2008 to 2013, Charles River acquires several companies including NewLab Bioquality AG,[14] MIR Preclinical Services,[15] Piedmont Research Center, LLC,[16] Cerebricon, Ltd., Accugenix, and Vital River, allowing the company to expand their research models and services portfolio to drug development and discovery markets in China.

The acquisitions of Argenta and BioFocus in 2014 allowed Charles River to establish itself as a full-service, early-stage contract research organization with integrated in vitro and in vivo capabilities from target discovery through pre-clinical development.

[17] In 2016, the company announced it was set to acquire WIL Research for approximately $585 million in cash[18] and Blue Stream Laboratories.

[33] In May 2021, Charles River announced the acquisition of Vigene Biosciences, a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), for $292.5 million.