Demand fuels growth at bio science company’s base

Abingdon Health has completed a major expansion of its rapid test manufacturing and research facility at York Biotech Campus.

The new space means the company now has capacity to manufacture millions of rapid tests a month, tests which quickly detect the presence of biomarkers and pathogens within people, animals or crops.

The recent expansion was in response to an increase in market demand, which was heightened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abingdon Health is currently the lead in the UK Rapid Test Consortium, delivering millions of antibody rapid tests that determine if someone has COVID-19 antibodies, which is increasingly important for the international roll-out of vaccines.

The new facility, based on York Biotech Campus, was an innovative project that converted a pre-existing storage unit onsite into an industry leading facility.

It includes seven temperature-controlled laboratories containing cutting-edge automated manufacturing lines, with the production capability of millions of tests per month.

This is the company’s third expansion at York Biotech Campus in the last year, as well as the addition of a manufacturing site in Doncaster, with an investment of £5.5m over the year on expansions.

In January 2020, it grew its space at the campus by 42% to provide additional laboratories, assay development space, offices and meeting rooms.

The increase in space is also in line with Abingdon Health’s staff growth.

Since the start of 2020, the business has increased its number of staff significantly, creating 119 new roles in the process, 39 of which are recent life science graduates, and has plans to continue recruitment efforts into next year.

Oliver Gardner, COO at Abingdon Health, said: “The pandemic has raised awareness for the need for rapid testing across industries, not only for COVID-19.

“The demand for rapid tests will continue to grow across healthcare and areas such as crop production, animal health and farming.

“With the market set to exceed £9bn in the near future, we are well positioned to keep pace with demand.

“The new space at our York headquarters is a vital element in becoming one of the world’s leading rapid diagnostic manufacturers, helping more people every day to receive quick and accurate results.”

Liz Cashon, innovation campus manager at York Biotech Campus, said: “We’re proud to have worked in collaboration with Abingdon Health to bring this all-new facility to life and assist the team in their vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the request from Abingdon Health came in for more space, we were quick to react and employed a flexible and innovative approach, which lead us to suggesting converting an unused storage unit into a unique workspace – an ideal solution we were able to turn around quickly.

“We pride ourselves on our collaborative approach when it comes to meeting the needs of our tenants.”