PathoQuest
PathoQuest is a Paris-based CRO providing GMP-validated Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) biosafety testing and genetic characterization services to biopharmaceutical companies, replacing traditional in vivo animal testing across modalities including viral vectors, cell therapies, vaccines, and recombinant proteins. Acquired by Charles River Laboratories in April 2026.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersParis, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What PathoQuest does
PathoQuest SAS is a Paris-headquartered Contract Research Organization (CRO) that delivers GMP-validated Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based biosafety testing and genetic characterization services to biopharmaceutical companies. Founded in 2010 as a spin-out of Institut Pasteur by Prof. Marc Eloit, the company positions itself as a specialist alternative to traditional in vivo animal-based and in vitro cell-based quality control methods, addressing critical viral safety, adventitious agent detection, cell line characterization, and identity confirmation requirements across therapeutic modalities including monoclonal antibodies, viral vectors (AAV, lentivirus, adenovirus), cell therapies (CAR-T, stem cell), vaccines, RNA therapies, and the emerging cultivated meat sector.
The company's core offering is the proprietary iDTECT® platform — a suite of validated NGS bioassays (iDTECT® Virome, iDTECT® Transcriptome, iDTECT® Identity, iDTECT® Integration Site Analysis developed with Oxford Nanopore Technologies, and iDTECT® HLA Genotyping) delivered as laboratory testing services from GMP-certified facilities in Paris (France) and Wayne, Pennsylvania (USA). The platform demonstrates quantifiable performance advantages over conventional methods: detection of ultra-rare genetic variants below 5% abundance (vs. ~20% for Sanger sequencing), full viral vector sequencing in a single run, batch release in weeks rather than months, and animal-free testing aligned with 3Rs principles. Bioinformatics and IT infrastructure is GMP-compliant (21 CFR Part 11, Annex 11) and cloud-deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
PathoQuest operates a sales-led, direct B2B GTM motion targeting enterprise biopharmaceutical clients through project-based GMP and non-GMP testing contracts. The company holds multiple regulatory registrations including FDA Biopharma Master Files, French ANSM GMP certification, FDA site registration, and has actively contributed to the regulatory endorsements of NGS-based testing in ICH Q5A(R2), European Pharmacopoeia (Chapters 5.2.14, 2.6.16, 2.6.41), WHO TRS 1063 (2025), and Chinese Pharmacopoeia Vol. III (2025). Named customers include Rentschler Biopharma, IAVI, Transgene SA, Oxford Biomedica (OXB), Établissement Français du Sang (EFS), Theolytics, Tr1X, and Emergence Therapeutics. Following its acquisition by Charles River Laboratories (NYSE: CRL) for approximately €51.6 million (~$60 million) — announced January 2026 and completed April 2026 — PathoQuest now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary with access to Charles River's global commercial and manufacturing footprint.
PathoQuest firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- PathoQuest
- Legal name
- PathoQuest SAS
- Website
- https://pathoquest.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- PathoQuest is a Paris-based CRO providing GMP-validated Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) biosafety testing and genetic characterization services to biopharmaceutical companies, replacing traditional in vivo animal testing across modalities including viral vectors, cell therapies, vaccines, and recombinant proteins. Acquired by Charles River Laboratories in April 2026.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
PathoQuest industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Biosafety Testing Services
- NAICS
- Medical Laboratories (621511), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Toxicology & Safety Assessment CROs (GLP) (HLAGAAAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)
Keywords
Where PathoQuest is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Paris
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
PathoQuest business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Contract Research Services (CRO): PathoQuest generates revenue through providing GMP and non-GMP NGS-based biosafety testing and characterization services on a contract basis to biopharmaceutical companies. Services span the entire product lifecycle from pre-clinical development through commercial product release. The company is projected to generate $15 to $20 million in annual revenue in 2026.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
PathoQuest product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PathoQuest operates as a Contract Research Organization (CRO) providing next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based biosafety testing services for the biopharmaceutical industry through its proprietary iDTECT® platform. The company delivers GMP-validated metagenomic assays for adventitious virus detection, viral safety testing, cell line characterization, and identity confirmation across multiple therapeutic modalities including monoclonal antibodies, viral vectors, cell therapies, vaccines, and RNA therapies.
Product overview
PathoQuest offers a unified platform of GMP-validated Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) quality control assays and biosafety testing services for biopharmaceuticals. The core offering is the iDTECT® Platform, which encompasses multiple specialized assay products — iDTECT® Virome (viral genome detection), iDTECT® Transcriptome (viral replication detection via transcriptome sequencing), iDTECT® Identity (nucleic acid sequencing for vector/plasmid confirmation), iDTECT® Integration Site Analysis (long-read nanopore sequencing for transgene integration characterization), and iDTECT® HLA Genotyping (17-locus HLA allele sequencing). These assay products are delivered as laboratory testing services across seven therapeutic modality areas: mAbs and recombinant proteins, viral vectors, cell therapies, vaccines, RNA therapies, and cultivated meat. The services span from pre-clinical cell line development through commercial product release, replacing traditional in vivo and in vitro biosafety testing methods with animal-free, faster NGS alternatives aligned with ICH Q5A(R2) and European Pharmacopoeia guidelines. Since April 16, 2026, PathoQuest has been part of Charles River Laboratories.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- iDTECT: PathoQuest's proprietary NGS-based GMP quality control platform for viral safety and genetic characterization testing in biopharmaceuticals, including iDTECT Virome, iDTECT Transcriptome, iDTECT Identity, and iDTECT Integration Site Analysis assays
Products and services
- iDTECT Virome
Quantifiable outcome
- Batch release in weeks instead of months compared to traditional testing methods
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use PathoQuest
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
PathoQuest technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability2 records
Feature8 records
PathoQuest partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Charles River LaboratoriescoreCharles River Laboratories acquired PathoQuest for approximately €51.6 million (~$60 million) in January 2026. The acquisition integrates PathoQuest's proprietary iDTECT® NGS platform into Charles River's global footprint, expanding adoption across the biopharmaceutical lifecycle including cell and gene therapies and vaccines. The transaction builds on a long-standing partnership, with Charles River having previously held a minority stake in PathoQuest before exercising its option to acquire the remaining 79% equity stake.
- Oxford Nanopore TechnologiescoreGlobal co-development and commercialization agreement for the first Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) accredited Integration Site Analysis test with nanopore long-read sequencing. The partnership aims to improve test accuracy and turnaround times for genetic characterisation of biopharmaceutical cell lines, addressing limitations of short-read sequencing in detecting concatemers, truncations, and inverted repeats.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)supportingAWS provides cloud-based computing and secure data storage platform for PathoQuest's NGS data processing and analysis workflows. The platform is GMP-compliant, providing a modernized automated workflow that reduces the time required to process and analyze Next-Generation Sequencing data for quality control testing of biopharmaceuticals.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
PathoQuest competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- SGS Health & Nutrition: Global testing services provider with a Life Sciences division offering biosafety, viral safety, and biologics characterization testing. SGS competes with PathoQuest in GMP testing services for biopharmaceutical manufacturers across multiple modalities.
- Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing: Global CRO providing GMP biosafety, viral safety, and biologics characterization testing services to biopharmaceutical clients. Eurofins has built extensive NGS testing capabilities (including the Cergentis integration site analysis acquisition) and directly competes with PathoQuest's iDTECT® platform offerings.
- BioReliance: Biosafety testing services provider (now consolidated within Charles River Laboratories' Biopharma Products & Services segment). Historically a leader in GMP viral safety testing for biologics, representing an internal sibling service line competing with PathoQuest within the parent organization.
Broad incumbents
- Aldevron (Danaher): CDMO specializing in plasmid DNA, mRNA, and protein production for cell/gene therapy developers. As part of Danaher's Life Sciences platform, Aldevron's customers overlap with PathoQuest's gene therapy segment, and integrated QC testing is a complementary offering.
- Charles River Laboratories: Parent company and global CRO offering biosafety testing, biologics manufacturing support, and discovery services across the full biopharmaceutical lifecycle. PathoQuest now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary, and CRL's Biopharma Products & Services segment directly competes in the GMP biosafety testing market.
- WuXi AppTec: China-headquartered global CRO/CDMO offering biologics testing, biosafety services, and manufacturing support. WuXi's scale and breadth across biologics testing overlap with PathoQuest's GMP testing services for global biopharma clients.
- Catalent: Global CDMO providing cell therapy, gene therapy, and biologics manufacturing services with integrated QC testing capabilities. Catalent's cell and gene therapy franchises create overlapping customer relationships and testing needs with PathoQuest's iDTECT® assays.
- Labcorp: Global clinical laboratory services and biopharma testing provider (with Fortrea spun out for clinical CRO). Labcorp's central laboratory and biologics testing capabilities overlap with PathoQuest's GMP testing services across enterprise biopharma customers.
- IQVIA: Global clinical CRO and biopharma services provider with expanding laboratory testing capabilities. IQVIA serves a similar biopharmaceutical customer base and is scaling technology-enabled testing services relevant to PathoQuest's GMP QC positioning.
Emerging players
- Bionova Scientific: Emerging CDMO focused on cell and gene therapy manufacturing with integrated analytical and quality control testing services. Bionova's focus on biologics QC for advanced therapies makes it a partially overlapping peer in the same niche PathoQuest serves.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
PathoQuest social profiles
Digital presencePathoQuest compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance14 records
PathoQuest financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
PathoQuest leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
PathoQuest funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors11 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
PathoQuest M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about PathoQuest
What does PathoQuest do?
PathoQuest operates as a Contract Research Organization (CRO) providing next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based biosafety testing services for the biopharmaceutical industry through its proprietary iDTECT® platform. The company delivers GMP-validated metagenomic assays for adventitious virus detection, viral safety testing, cell line characterization, and identity confirmation across multiple therapeutic modalities including monoclonal antibodies, viral vectors, cell therapies, vaccines, and RNA therapies.
Is PathoQuest a public or private company?
PathoQuest is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was PathoQuest founded?
PathoQuest was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is PathoQuest based?
PathoQuest is headquartered in Paris, France, in the Europe region.
How does PathoQuest make money?
One revenue line is on record: contract Research Services (CRO).
Who are PathoQuest's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are SGS Health & Nutrition, Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing and BioReliance. Broad incumbents are Aldevron (Danaher), Charles River Laboratories, WuXi AppTec, Catalent, Labcorp and IQVIA. Bionova Scientific is listed as an emerging player.
Does PathoQuest have an API?
No public API is recorded for PathoQuest.
What industry is PathoQuest in?
PathoQuest's product category is Biosafety Testing Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAAAC, Toxicology & Safety Assessment CROs (GLP), with a secondary code of HLAGAAAB, Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK). Its NAICS code is 621511 and its SIC code is 8071.