Concept Life Sciences has taken two new lab spaces at Alderley Park’s Mereside campus in Cheshire, U.K., increasing its scientific capacity by over 30%, including 55 scientists. The aim is to further drive its growth in discovery and development capabilities.
The two facilities, one 10,111 square feet for the chemistry team and one 2,284 square feet to host the biology team, will be focused on Concept’s drug discovery services, which encompass chemistry, pharmacology screening, assay development and ADME.
This adds on to the company’s existing 10 locations across the U.K., including its headquarters in central Manchester, and brings its total employees to about 700. Each location specializes in areas of the company’s two sectors—discovery and development, and analytical chemistry, toxicology, bioanalysis, food safety and environmental testing.
Though spread out in different places, the new Alderley Park labs “form part of a seamless service to clients in conjunction with the other group sites,” Michael Fort, Concept’s executive chairman, told FierceCRO. Alderley Park will be the main hub of the group’s program management team that drives this integrated service, he said.
A research hub located close to Concept’s headquarter, Alderley Park has close links with universities, NHS institutions and research organizations, Chris Doherty, managaing director at Alderley Park, said in a statement.
“Building a presence in the heart of Alderley Park not only makes the Concept Group a very attractive place for the recruitment of world-class scientists, but it also sits within a leading scientific environment, giving access to leading technologies which complement the Company's core service offerings,” Fort said.
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Fort said the new addition is a key step in the company’s plan to further expand. The company has enjoyed fast growth since establishment in 2014. The entire company has grown over 30% in the last 12 months, according to Fort. It also started offering drug discovery and development services in the U.S. with a new U.S. life sciences team set up last June.
To break it down, the discovery and development services grew almost 36% year over year, while the analytical services delivered a 12% growth rate. “In discovery and development services the key drivers have been expansion and integration of scientific services, broadening the appeal to a wider field of pharmaceutical and biotech businesses internationally,” Fort said.
The company’s total revenues in 2017 are approaching $60 million, and Ford said he expects similar growth rates during 2018, “albeit slightly higher in analytical and development services as we reposition the company’s services toward more esoteric services and markets in pharmaceutical development.”