Pictured: Liam Nagle, CEO, Norbrook
Norbrook Group, the Northern Ireland-based pharmaceutical company, is the Business & Finance Company of the Month for October 2020.
Founded in 1969 by Irish-British entrepreneur Edward Enda Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, Norbrook began by manufacturing veterinary pharmaceuticals. Today, the group is known for the production of antibiotic drugs such as Noroclav and Betamox, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Carprieve, Loxicom and Flunixin.
In May 2020, the group announced that it would be the first company in Northern Ireland to install an “innovative COVID-19 testing platform” for on-site staff screening.
The COVID-19 screening programme at Norbrook was the first in Northern Ireland being facilitated by an innovative testing platform capable of processing results in within 2 hours, 30 minutes.
The technology, named the Vivalytic, is available from global diagnostics company Randox, who are one of the partners within the national COVID-19 testing programme.
In May 2020, the group announced that it would be the first company in Northern Ireland to install an “innovative COVID-19 testing platform” for on-site staff screening.
David Ferguson, Managing Director at Randox Food Diagnostics. said of the partnership: “Randox is fully committed to supporting the national effort to fight COVID-19 by testing at scale, and as we continue to work alongside the government and ramp up our testing capabilities, we welcome the fact that other organisations are also adopting our innovative COVID-19 testing technologies to address their own particular testing needs.
“The Vivalytic, which provides high quality molecular testing for COVID-19, on-site and without the need for laboratory experience, is a unique space-saving, hygienic solution for personnel COVID-19 testing in any setting and will help a wide variety of industries get back to business by ensuring the highest level of safety.”
Denise Collins, Norbrook HR Director, echoed Mr Ferguson, stating: “We’re proud to be working with a company like Randox which has such vast experience in the diagnostics industry and was subsequently able to respond so quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That this world-leading technology is available from a Northern Ireland-headquartered company presents a unique opportunity for workplaces here to quickly and easily implement a staff screening programme, and at the same time demonstrate a high standard of duty of care that should be shown by employers to their employees.”
The Vivalytic can screen for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as a range of other viral infections including Influenza A and B, Pneumonia and other coronaviruses.
Business & Finance, Company of the Month
