Taconic Biosciences is a private biotechnology company specializing in genetically engineered mouse and rat models, microbiome, immuno-oncology mouse models, and integrated model design and breeding services. The company was founded in 1952 as Taconic Farms. The company has three service laboratories and six breeding facilities in the U.S. and Europe, and is headquartered in

Rensselaer, New York Rensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, United States, and is located on the east side of the Hudson River, directly opposite of Albany. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 9,210. Rensselaer is on the western border of ...

Company overview

Taconic Biosciences is a breeder and supplier of

laboratory animals Animals used by laboratories for testing purposes are largely supplied by dealers who specialize in selling them to universities, medical and veterinary schools, and companies that provide contract animal-testing services. It is comparatively rare ...

operating in over 50 countries. The current CEO is Nancy J. Sandy. As of 2016, the company has over 800 employees and 1300 customers. They produce selectively bred and genetically engineered mice and rats for research use.

History

* 1949 – Robert Phelan began shipping mice from his garage in Canajoharie, NY. * 1952 – Taconic Farms is officially founded in Germantown, NY. * 1955 – Robert dies, leaving the company to his wife, Sally, and sons, Joseph, Richard, and Samuel. * 1963 – Contracted to provide BDF1 mice for the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

. * 1969 – Began offering rats, including

Sprague Dawley A laboratory rat or lab rat is a brown rat of the subspecies '' Rattus norvegicus domestica'' which is bred and kept for scientific research. While less commonly used for research than mice (see laboratory mouse), rats have served as an importa ...

, one of the most popular breeds of laboratory rat * 1969 – Taconic was the first breeder to receive full accreditation from the American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animals * 1970 – Contracted to provide the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

with Sprague Dawley rats. They continue to supply NCI with BDF1 mice. * 1975 – Began offering the SHR hypertensive rat and the WKY control strain. * 1980 – Taconic developed the first Isolated Barrier Unit system, a method of housing rodents in a pathogen-free environment. * 1982 – Began offering Fischer 344 rats and asthmatic rats from Merck-Frost, Montreal, to the product offerings. * 1985 – Contracted to supply MPF and germ-free animals for the NASA space shuttle missions. * 1985 – Started producing BALB/c mice. * 1991 – Became the first commercial provider of the C.B-17

SCID mouse The severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a severe immunodeficiency genetic disorder that is characterized by the complete inability of the adaptive immune system to mount, coordinate, and sustain an appropriate immune response, usually due to ...

model. * 1994 – Contracted with National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease to maintain a repository of inbred, congenic, and transgenic mice. * 2002 – Expanded business to Europe * 2014 – Name changed from Taconic Farms to Taconic Biosciences * 2019 – Acquired by H.I.G. Capital * 2022 - Acquired by Avista Capital Partners

Acquisitions

In 2001, the company announced it acquired Anmed Laboratories. In 2002, Taconic announced it acquired M&B Breeding (Denmark). In December 2009, the company announced it acquired Xenogen Biosciences.

References

Biotechnology companies of the United States {{US-company-stub