Wilmington, Mass.-based Charles River Laboratories has stepped up its clinical research presence with the purchase of Northwest Kinetics, a 150-bed unit early phase clinical pharmacology unit in Tacoma, Wash. The deal is worth $29.5 million and may signal that Charles River has interest in expanding its clinical development business, after selling off much of that to Kendle last year. Watch for the in depth story in an upcoming issue of our CWWeekly newsletter.