Scottish contract research organisation (CRO) RoukenBio is celebrating ten years of growth and innovation.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Andy Upsall, RoukenBio (originally known as Antibody Analytics) began with a focus on biosimilars and antibody characterisation.
Over time, RoukenBio has expanded into discovery-phase immunology and custom cell engineering, supporting therapeutic innovators across oncology, immuno-oncology, autoimmunity, inflammation, allergy, neuro-inflammation and ophthalmology, across multiple drug modalities.
The company began with just three employees and, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary on 24 November, now has a team of more than 110, working with customers in more than 27 countries.
Andy Upsall said: “When we set up the company, our aim was to build something genuinely distinctive with services that pushed the boundaries of what a CRO could do."
"We’re still doing that today, just on a bigger stage and with technical capabilities I could only have imagined back then.”
In 2023, RoukenBio, the Immunology CRO redefined, launched its first proprietary technology, IndEx-2, a fully customisable, inducible cell line development platform designed to improve the efficacy and safety characterisation of discovery stage therapeutic candidates.
Its latest innovation, LocIn, is an advanced cell line generation system that enables the rapid creation of genetically engineered isogenic cell lines, giving researchers greater precision and reproducibility in early-stage discovery.
"We look to operate in the most challenging areas – those that aren't well served – and to develop a position of strength that meets our customers’ needs,” said Andy Upsall.
"We aim to compete on quality, and that's not just quality delivery or the data we deliver; it's about the entire experience of working with us.”
In 2023, RoukenBio secured a significant investment from private equity firm NorthEdge Capital, enabling expansion of its Motherwell-based facilities — the Rouken Discovery Centre — with additional state-of-the-art technology, increasing laboratory space and capacity for up to 250 employees.
The company continues to invest in its suite of high-specification instrumentation.
Recent investments include the HelixCyto single-cell interaction cytometer, used to measure the kinetics of therapeutic binding on live cells and the Cytation 10, a high-content, high-throughput confocal imaging reader with real-time measurement capabilities.
These investments have enabled RoukenBio to significantly broaden the drug development services it can provide, helping its customers understand multiple aspects of how their candidate therapeutics function, to select the best prospects for progression into the clinic.
In 2024, the company rebranded from Antibody Analytics to RoukenBio, coinciding with the completion of its phase two facility expansion.
The new name reflected the CRO’s continuing evolution, its broader scientific capability and its Scottish roots, taking inspiration from the local Rouken Glen waterfalls.
Upsall concluded: “Our future vision hasn’t changed, it’s just grown."
"Every time we achieve something, it just sets the bar higher, and we’re always looking forward.”
By 2030, RoukenBio aims to be the most trusted CRO known globally, not only for impactful data, but also for a culture built on excellence, innovation and shared purpose.