Bio-Rad
Last updated | 25/04/2007
Bio-Rad may be a new name to the Perth business community, but the company is built on foundations reaching back more than 40 years, when an American, Dr Bob Guthrie, invented the Guthrie test - a groundbreaking diagnostic screening product for newborn babies, which can identify the risk of mental handicap caused by an inborn metabolic disorder from a spot of blood taken from a heelstick.
Then in 1989 scientists at Porton-Cambridge developed an enzymatic method for measuring phenylalanine, which was both quantitative, allowing for a specific value to be placed on the analysis (The Guthrie test is semi-quantitative) and much quicker. A rapid cycle of growth in the 1990s saw the company move first to Dundee, then Cumbernauld, and finally Perth under a succession of names and owners.
The biggest catalyst for change came in 1998, when Quantase, as the company was then known, signed a sales and distribution deal with California-based Bio-Rad Laboratories. The US firm, with offices and manufacturing locations across the globe, serves more than 70,000 research and industry customers worldwide. In 2002 the link between the two companies was further strengthened when Bio-Rad bought the assets of Quantase, which in turn became the principal manufacturing centre for neonatal diagnostic screening kits.
Around 99.5% of Bio-Rad's Perthshire output is exported, to countries including Brazil, Germany, Korea, France, Italy and Portugal. Gordon Hay, General Manager of Bio-Rad, said: "In total, we sell around three million tests a year, and our main product has a 15% to 17% share of the world market. Manufacturing and exporting from Perth isn't a problem, because the area has excellent access links to the EU and worldwide."
As part of Tayside's burgeoning biotechnology sector, Bio-Rad's annual turnover is expected to double within the next 12-18 months. The company currently employs a staff of five, producing simple, efficient and self-contained testing kits, which are manufactured on-site.
The current market for newborn screening tests has an estimated value of more than US $100 million worldwide, and is growing at a rate of 10% a year. With genetic screening compulsory in the United States and most other developed nations around the world, Perth-based Bio-Rad is ideally situated to make the most of expansion opportunities, and build on its strengths in product development.
Gordon added: "Our move to Perth was made initially because of the ease of access, combined with an outstanding quality of life. The schools and amenities are excellent, and the countryside is spectacular - I live in Kinrossie, a rural area with outstanding views over the Sidlaw Hills, but I'm only 14 minutes away from the company. As a place to live and work, you can't beat it!"
