Share thisExplora Biolabs was looking to scale up rapidly, and disposable caging offered financial and operational benefits.
Explora Biolabs (Explora), a San Diego-based contract research organization (CRO), was founded in 2004 with a goal to satisfy the in vivo research needs of drug discovery researchers. We have used disposable caging from its inception in 2005, attracted by the simplicity of a disposable cage operation, the low capital investment required, the increased consistency and sterility it offered to our processes, and, of course, by the ease of its deployment.
Six years later, having started as a modest operation with just eight vivarium rooms and a facility space of 4,000 square feet, Explora has grown to include 40 vivarium rooms with a total facility space of 25,000 square feet. The ability to add more rodent housing capacity without having to invest in washroom infrastructure has been a driving factor in the successful growth of our business.
Explora provides a suite of in vivo efficacy models in a variety of disease areas, including oncology and diabetes, as well as pharmacokinetic and toxicology services. Due to Explora’s diverse clientele and research needs, operating efficiency and maintaining high cleanliness standards are critical. As our business has expanded, we have been able to scale our operation to meet our clients’ demands quickly and efficiently. Using disposable caging has allowed our business to expand operations, to reduce our staff, to decrease our operating costs and to minimize financial risks while enabling us to deliver the highest level of animal care to our clients.
As one of the first users of a disposable IVC system, I have been exposed to all aspects of its evolution and been in touch with many of the other users of this system. Many of the initial customers deployed the system in quarantine facilities or remote labs where cage washing was either impractical or ill-advised. Once users became comfortable with the performance and benefits of the system, its use was expanded to larger, dedicated facilities. Today there are animal facilities around the world operating without the need of a cage wash, including many that are in excess of 10,000 cages. There are fundamental reasons for this rapid adoption: the disposable IVC system provides meaningful financial advantages and animal welfare benefits; it improves employee well being, increases operational flexibility and offers a green alternative to the traditional cage wash.
System Financial Analysis
There are two major components of cost associated with operating an animal facility—capital equipment and operation—that were critical factors in our decision to commit to a disposable IVC system.
Capital Equipment and Infrastructure
There is no question that the implementation of disposable IVC caging reduces costs on the front end of a renovation or new vivarium project. Reduction or elimination of the washroom, washers, sterilizers, and other capital equipment dramatically reduces the total cost of the project.1,2 The upfront capital savings can be from tens of thousands for small labs, all the way up to multi-million dollar savings for larger operations. One institution reported saving over $4,000,000 in capital equipment and construction costs by implementing a disposable caging solution.2
The calculations required to compute savings for this category of expenditures is fairly straightforward by simply comparing the space, construction, and equipment expenditures between the two options. These savings accrue directly to the institution and immediately reduce daily costs per cage, especially while the facility is ramping up their operation. These savings have been instrumental in Explora’s ability to scale up rapidly as our business grew and we needed to quickly meet the demands of new customers.
Ongoing Cost of Operations
This cost component is less straightforward to compute, but nonetheless it can be done by using a framework that takes all aspects of vivarium operation into account.2 There are many factors to consider, including husbandry staff labor, washroom labor, washroom utilities (including washroom HVAC which can account for 50% of an animal facility’s HVAC consumption), washroom maintenance contracts/engineering, management time, cost of replacement caging (washable or disposable), choice of watering solution, choice of bedding, average cage change interval, waste handling/recycling, value of increased animal housing capacity per square foot, anticipated rack utilization, employee turnover/grievances/absenteeism, value of increased financial flexibility, value of reduced risk through simplified processes, value of convenience, and others.
Once all these parameters of costs are defined, it’s a matter of using commonly available historical data, measurements from current operations, projections, and analysis to determine the total annual cost of operating under both scenarios. This level of detail is required to reach the true cost of operations under both the washable and disposable scenarios.