A clever Limerick

Olympus is already a leading clinical chemistry assay manufacturer, producing over one million kits per annum in the plant located near Limerick in south-west Ireland. Having assay development and production in-house brings benefits in terms of performance, quality assurance and customer confidence. When Olympus decided to enter the complex area of immunoassay, a full in-house capability was identified as a key objective. The first assays include thyroid assays, tumour markers and fertility tests. These will be swiftly followed in 2006 by cardiac, anaemia and specialist panels. Research and development took place at the Olympus Immunodiagnostics R&D Centre in Paris. The aim was to produce a competitive range of specific assays suitable for the new high-throughput AU3000i system. ôAssay development and manufacture is, as we have learnt through our clinical chemistry experience, both an art and a science,ö said Dr Peter Szillat, the product manager for immunochemistry. ôOur R&D team in France and manufacturing personnel in Ireland have worked tirelessly on this project with outstanding results. I am confident that our customers will be impressed.ö