The 5800 m2 facility will become one of the largest dedicated testing sites of its kind in the UK and the biopharmaceutical product testing (BPT) UK business, plans to double employee numbers in the next five years.
The new facility will allow the BPT business to expand its finished product and raw materials testing, and increase capacity to deal with higher volumes.
A greater number of technical specialists will also be available to work on method development and validation.
GMP microbiology contract testing will be a focus, alongside elemental impurity testing, which has benefited from the purchase of new equipment to enhance the capability of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) testing, enabling the company to meet growing demand for this service.
Eurofins will also invest in more high-performance liquid chromatography equipment, increasing its capacity by 40%.
Alison Clayton, General Manager, said the Livingston site would be one of the largest of all the Eurofins UK sites, which form part of a network of laboratories working together across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
“The large investment in the facility will position the company in the best place to attract new customers thanks to greatly increased capacity and is in line with Eurofins’ intent to attract significant future growth and development opportunities,” she said.
Eurofins BPT UK business will move from its current site in Newbridge, Edinburgh. The Livingston facility will also house new laboratories for Eurofins’ water testing business.
The investment follows Eurofins’ acquisition of Exova’s pharmaceutical, food and water testing business in the UK and Ireland in July 2016, and the subsequent purchase of ILS’s pharmaceutical business in October 2016.
Eurofins BPT UK’s work is critical to drug development compliance testing prior to products being released to market. The company is a crucial part of the supply chain in facilitating the release of products and ultimately benefiting patient health.
The business is part of Eurofins Scientific, an international life sciences company, which provides a unique range of analytical testing services to clients across multiple industries worldwide.
Eurofins will exhibit at CPhI WW 2017, for further information please visit the stand 40D30.