Labcorp Drug Development is a contract research organization (CRO) headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina, providing nonclinical, preclinical, clinical and commercialization services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Formerly called Covance, the company is part of Labcorp, which employs more than 70,000 people worldwide. Labcorp Drug Development claims to provide the world's largest central laboratory network. Labcorp Drug Development has been met by fierce activism from animal rights leaders including Jane Goodall for its animal testing procedures. History Pre-Labcorp Drug Development companies (1968–1996) The origins of Labcorp Drug Development go back to 1968, when Environmental Sciences Corporation – which manufactured equipment related to laboratory animals – opened for business in the basement of a former grocery store in Seattle, Washington. In 1972, it purchased and took the name of Hazleton Laboratories, a contract laboratory that conducted toxicology testing. In 1977, Corning Glass Works purchased a stake in Hazleton. According to material on the Funding Universe website, by 1982, Hazleton had become the largest independent biological testing company and life sciences laboratory in the United States, as well as the largest manufacturer of equipment in the world. The company carried out toxicology tests on animals of drugs, cosmetics, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, and bred rhesus monkeys and beagles for its own labs, as well as for chemical and drug companies, hospitals, universities and government agencies. It offered chemical analysis of new compound products for various industries, tested chemicals for gene mutations, and carried out research with monoclonal antibodies. In 1989, Corning Glass Works purchased G.H. Besselaar Associates, which conducted clinical trials to help drugs gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and Hazleton purchased Microtest Ltd., a molecular toxicology center in York, England. Corning Glass Works then changed its name to Corning, and created Corning Lab Services, which included Besselaar and Hazelton. In 1991 and 1992, Corning Lab Services acquired SciCor and Philadelphia Association of Clinical Trials; in 1993, Hazleton, Besselaar, and SciCor were combined, becoming Corning Pharmaceutical Services, then Corning Life Sciences. On January 9, 1995, Corning Pharmaceutical Services announced the acquisition of National Packaging Systems, Inc., an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based clinical trial packaging company; the company was renamed Corning National Packaging Inc. Labcorp Drug Development as Covance (1996–2014) After completing the spin-off of Covance from Corning in 1996, Covance began operations as an independent, publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in January 1997. By 1998, Covance had