South West RDA has reported the successful expansion of Devon-based pharmaceutical in the South West. Opal Healthcare has created a new company in the region as OI Sciences. The South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA) was the key participant in the expansion.
OI Sciences is said to focus on the development, sales, marketing and distribution of hospital generic injectible drugs to hospital physicians, pharmacists and patients.
Yasmin Crawford, CEO of OI Sciences, said: We were fast outgrowing our distribution centre in Oxfordshire and so we needed larger premises in order to expand the business. The South West was a clear favourite with an established network of medical technology companies, strong links to the local universities and teaching hospitals and the concentration of innovative technologies in the region meant we’d have no problem recruiting skilled staff.
Our position in the South West of England gives us an important strategic advantage. We are at the heart of a thriving bio-medical cluster and plan to forge relationships with companies that can help us with analytical testing, formulation, manufacture and sales and marketing. The move to Devon was absolutely the right decision and we have succeeded in helping our team at Opal and now OI Sciences strike a much better work/life balance as a result.
We are extremely delighted to announce that OI Sciences since conception in April 2008 has secured four NHS tenders for two recently launched injectible products. The first order was placed by the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital for a new 50ml size of an antifungal infusion. OI Sciences will utilise the distribution experience of Opal to supply the medicines to the NHS directly.
Ian Thompson, area director for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay at the South West RDA, said: We are delighted that Opal Healthcare is prospering in such a way that it allows for further expansion in the region with the creation of this new spin-out company. Biotechnology is one of the RDA’s priority sectors and we are particularly pleased to be supporting the development of businesses like this one.
This announcement by Opal Healthcare is testament to the emerging cluster of excellence in this field that we have here in the South West. The RDA is particularly pleased to see this sector flourish and this is a key area where the Agency will focus its investment, as part of our wider vision.