Bioanalytical testing services provider, Eurofins Scientific, has opened a new pharmaceutical chemistry and microbiology facility in Livingston, Scotland, following a £4 million investment.

The 5,800 square meter 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 over the next 5 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 also 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 (HPLC) equipment, increasing its capacity by 40%.

Alison Clayton, general manager, Eurofins Scientific, said the Livingston site would be one of the largest of all the Eurofins UK sites, which form part of a network of laboratories that work 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.