Firm takes the Technopath to future growth
Based in Ballina, the company is part of the Technopath Group, which also includes a distribution company serving the healthcare and biotechnology markets. The group has a total of 78 employees, achieved a turnover of over €15m in 2012 and is expecting significant growth in 2013.
Employing a staff of 36, Technopath Manufacturing is a clinical diagnostics and R&D company which was established in 2005 and involved an investment of €6m in R&D.
Its core product range, Multichem, is used to monitor the quality of hospital laboratory blood tests and prevent the reporting of incorrect results.
With this product, the company has 50% of the quality control market in Ireland and 30% of the British market and is now aiming to become a global leader in this field.
According to chief executive and co-founder Malcolm Bell: “The Technopath Multichem range of quality control material is now widely recognised as the new standard in hospital laboratory quality control.”
Significant growth in sales of Multichem is expected this year, following the signing last year of a global product development, supply and distribution agreement with Abbott Diagnostics, one of the world’s leading diagnostics companies, with operations in 150 countries.
“This is a very exciting development for the company,” says Mr Bell. “We estimate that Technopath’s product will benefit 20% of patients globally, within 24 months.”
The other company in the Technopath Group, Technopath Distribution — a supply and development company employing a staff of 42 — is now making preparations for the global launch of a product which Technopath commercial director Dr Jerry Clifford describes as “breakthrough technology for the dairy industry”.
He says: “Oculer Technology is a high throughput system for the rapid detection of Thermoduric bacteria in dairy products.”
Developed in conjunction with Luxel Biosciences, the product is being launched in Rotterdam in June and is being promoted through direct sales in New Zealand and Australia and through channel partners in Europe and the US.
“The initial application for Oculer is in liquid milk in the dairy industry, a market segment estimated to be worth €90m,” according to Technopath distribution chief executive and co-founder Dave Sullivan.
Technopath is continuing with an intensive R&D programme and is making plans to launch a new range of products for the pharmaceutical bio-processing industry in 2014.
In May last year, Technopath Manufacturing announced plans to invest an additional €3m, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, in order to scale up manufacturing capacity and drive export activity. Experiencing growth of 25% in 2012, the company announced its intention to use the investment to employ an additional 40 staff.
Set up by Mr Sullivan and Mr Bell in 1997, Technopath began with three employees in Limerick’s Tait Business Centre, selling and distributing products to the clinical diagnostics and food technology sectors before expanding into the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. In 2005, it established an R&D facility and founded Technopath Manufacturing in order to establish a platform to develop own-brand technologies and products. Five years ago, it commenced manufacturing when it moved to a new 25,000sq ft production facility at Fort Henry Business Park in Ballina.
At present, exports account for 60% of sales for the Technopath Group, but this figure is expected to increase significantly in 2013.
“Our long-term growth strategy is to develop niche, innovative, breakthrough technologies and to deploy these technologies globally,” says Mr Bell.
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