Acclaimed laboratory set to double in size
A REDCAR lab hailed a “shining example” for its work in tackling Covid has announced it is doubling in size. Absolute Antibody, based at Redcar’s Wilton Centre, has won worldwide praise for its work in battling the virus and other diseases.
The business has grown rapidly since it was established at the Wilton Centre in 2014 – now it’s set to expand “significantly”, creating jobs.
Absolute Antibody will invest in extra manufacturing lines and stateof-the-art robotics to address growing demand.
Dr Ed Horton, chief commercial officer of Absolute Antibody, said: “The increased space and automation is a direct result of the continued growth of our company and underlines our commitment to our clients and to advancing antibody technology.
“We are excited to leverage our increased production capacity and additional automation capabilities to serve new and existing customers more efficiently and respond to the growing demand for recombinant antibodies, across a variety of applications,” he added.
The company’s custom antibody sequencing, engineering and expression services are used by top pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics companies, as well as by academic researchers worldwide. Its huge lab upgrade will enable the company to take on “larger and higher volume projects”.
Absolute Antibody focused on producing Covid antibodies for an antibody test during the early stages of the pandemic. It also provided antibodies for 100 companies across 20 countries worldwide that were working on combating the virus during the first wave alone.
Absolute Antibody’s global reach was recently recognised with a Queen’s Award in Enterprise in International Trade in 2020, after its overseas sales increased by 100% and the proportion of sales exported grew to 81% of total sales within just a three-year period.