Japan Laboratory Animals, Inc. goes bankrupt

A well-known company in the laboratory animals industry, Japan Laboratory Animals, Inc*1, began its bankruptcy process on April 1, 2020.*2

This company was founded in 1949 and established in 1965.  Mainly handling medium-sized animals such as monkeys, beagle dogs, and pigs, the company engaged in raising and selling laboratory animals such as rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, and mice, commissioned breading/research/testing, and breeding equipment and feed wholesales.

In Japan, there are not many companies that deal with raising laboratory animals.  Japan Laboratory Animals was known for its high reliability, having the Laboratory Animal Engineer qualifications (tiers 1 and 2) as a mid-sized company in the industry, and having established a sterile breeding room.  In addition, for laboratory monkeys, it was the Japanese agent for Vietnamese and Cambodian companies, and also had the exclusive domestic production and sales rights for a producer that has the world’s second largest share of rats.  It had established sales channels with approximately 400 companies, including animal testing contractors, pharmaceutical manufacturers, CROs (contract research organizations), and university research institutes, and recorded annual sales of approximately 1,223 million yen in 2008.

However, in recent years, orders have been reduced due to cancellations from some customers, in addition to intensified price competitions in the dog industry and customers refraining from using dogs due to protests from animal welfare groups.  The annual sales in 2018 had declined to approximately 717 million yen.  On the other hand, the burden of repayment of borrowings from financial institutions for operating costs was heavy, and funding was deteriorating.  For this reason, although efforts were made to improve management by reducing administrative expenses for sales, business conditions did not recover and business continuity became difficult.  The business was suspended on September 30, 2019, leaving the responsibilities of debt consolidation to lawyers.

The debt was about 773 million yen as of June 2018, but it may be fluctuating.

In 2005, the company was strictly warned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for not providing appropriate information on genetically modified organisms as required by the law*3.

1. http://jla-net.com/p1-frame.html
2. https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200408-00010000-teikokudb-bus_all
3. https://alarmbox.jp/blog/?p=4290