Harris Laboratories

Harris Laboratories was a Lincoln, Nebraska-based laboratory and contract research company that began as an analytical testing business serving food, water, feed, soil, and agricultural markets before expanding into human clinical research. In 1969, the company conducted its first clinical trial and became one of the early independent organizations helping establish the contract clinical research industry. Harris Laboratories later operated under the names MDS Harris and MDS Pharma Services after its acquisition by MDS in 1996. In March 2010, the early clinical research business was divested and became Celerion. The legacy business is therefore healthcare-related, but it was primarily a services company rather than a therapeutic product developer with a drug pipeline.