Biotech firm expansion to create 800 jobs

More than 800 jobs are being created in Northern Ireland as part of a massive expansion by a leading biotechnology company, it was announced today.

Randox Laboratories, a leading global player in the diagnostic healthcare business, will treble its current workforce of 400 with the creation of 810 jobs over three years.

Its £123m (€175m) investment in next generation biochip technology represents the largest single investment by an indigenous Northern Ireland company.

Crucially, about 70% of the new high-quality jobs will be for graduates in biochemistry, engineering, electrical engineering and computer programming.

Announcing the expansion at the headquarters of the family-run firm in Crumlin, Co Antrim, Stormont Enterprise Trade and Investment Minister Ian Pearson said the new generation technology would help in the speedier diagnosis of life-threatening diseases.

The new technology would “help doctors diagnose a wider range of medical conditions, including cancer, heart disease and hormonal disorders, more accurately and faster than is currently possible”.

The latest investment is focused on the development of an automated analyser machine and unique biochip that enables clinicians to diagnose many diseases from a single sample of blood or urine from a patient.

Almost 180 scientists at Randox have been involved in the development of the new equipment, which is called Evidence.

Using the new technology, hospital laboratories will be able to carry out 25 or more simultaneous tests on single samples on a one centimetre biochip from 180 patients per hour.

The minister described the 20-year-old company as “an icon of what can be achieved here in Northern Ireland”.

He added: “Randox is a first class example of a Northern Ireland entrepreneurial business that has achieved major international success through continuous investment in innovation, in R&D, product development and global marketing.”

The company has four plants in the Co Antrim area engaged in R&D activities and in the manufacture of diagnostic testing products for almost 30,000 clients, mostly hospital laboratories, in 130 countries.

Mr Pearson said the new diagnostic system pioneered by Randox represented world-class technology that would establish the company as an industry leader and would raise Northern Ireland’s profile as an international biotechnology research centre.

Company managing director Dr Peter Fitzgerald said: “We believe that the Evidence system has the potential to revolutionise healthcare worldwide by providing greater information from patient samples than is currently possible.

“It will also enable clinicians to harness the enormous potential of genomics research using DNA markers to pinpoint potentially life-threatening conditions earlier.”

The Evidence system has taken nine years to develop and represents a £55 million investment by the business.