Nexxus Scotland

Award for an “Ology”

13 November 2008

Clydebank Business Park based biopharmaceutical contract research organisation Vitrology has scooped this year's Nexxus Most Promising Young Life Science Company Award.

The company, whose second birthday won't be until April 2009, has grown rapidly from its early beginnings and now employs 20 staff with most having 10 - 15 years experience in different areas, allowing wide expertise and service offering in the biosafety testing sector.  

The organisation is delighted to win the Award.   Dr Archie Lovatt, Scientific Director, said :

"When we set up the company, we knew that our services would be in demand but perhaps didn't realise just how much demand there might be!   Over 90 international clients have approached us since Spring this year already.   We currently have contracts in place with many companies in Europe and the US, with several more about to be finalised.   Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) accreditation from the MHRA was received earlier this year and last month we were accredited with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliance.   This allows us to provide enhanced quality standards to meet increasing market demands, with a validated service offering increasing in size quarter by quarter.   We're just delighted with the way things are going and winning this Award is just the icing on the cake."

Laura Gordon, Director of the Glasgow:Edinburgh Collaboration - keynote speaker at the Nexxus, West of Scotland BioScience Network's Award ceremony held in Glasgow on 12 November, said : "Life sciences are one of Scotland's true success stories - with Glasgow and Edinburgh home to 360 companies, employing more than 24,000 people in the industry. As these awards have showcased, our native talent can compete on a global level."  

Commenting on the imminent launch of Nexxus in the East of Scotland she added : "By combining the work of the Edinburgh Science Triangle with the hugely significant West of Scotland bio-science industry, Nexxus will be instrumental in securing Scotland's place as a world leader in life sciences. Through this collaboration, businesses across Scotland will be able to work together to maximise the opportunity to attract fresh talent, investment and business to Scotland, increasing the scale of operations along with R&D activity, and underpinning our ability to compete more effectively internationally."

As an organisation, Vitrology works in close collaboration with its clients from the early stages of their new drug discovery and development programmes, tailoring advice and extending services to meet the precise requirements of each project.   This ensures the diverse ranges of routine and custom assays provided satisfy the exact needs of the most demanding of clients, in strict compliance with the current guidelines issued by all relevant international regulatory authorities.  

Vitrology's services are client centred and focus on service standards which impact on clients immediately.   Its laboratories are built around a proprietary IT system developed in-house to deliver operational efficiencies by reducing study times, giving clients direct online access to ongoing progress and intermediate results, and ensuring faster delivery of final results and reporting.   Tangible benefits to clients lie in tighter project management and significantly reduced drug development costs and production overheads.

For further information contact Jan Clark, Marketing Communications Officer, Nexxus T: 0141 330 1987, E : j.clark@nexxuscotland.com 

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