London pharmaceutical firm expands operations with new South East facility

A pharmaceutical and scientific research company is creating new job roles and expanding its offering with a new laboratory in Kent.

Transpharmation will launch its largest laboratory facility at Discovery Park in Kent, and create multiple new positions within the company.

The new facility will support the firm’s plan to provide additional research capability, accelerate drug support for life-changing medicines and strengthen services for overseas clients.

Founded in 2010, Transpharmation partners with other laboratories to provide research experiments and data to show how medical drugs or components interact with the body.

It has contributed to UK and worldwide understanding of a range of health conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness and, most recently, Covid-19.

Dr Neil Upton, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Transpharmation, explained: “Human health and science have always been the driver behind Transpharmation and remain at our heart, whether that’s direct research into debilitating conditions or helping new scientists forge a research career.

“While our early days were focussed on research into cognition and pain, our team is now also looking at other areas – for example, the relationship between Covid-19 and inflammation or using brain electrical activity to look at signatures in other diseases.

“Our particular focus is on looking at how experiments in the lab translate to human health in the clinical setting – a term referred to as ‘translational biology’.”

Dr Mark Duxon, Transpharmation chief executive officer and co-founder, added: “Discovery Park has a long scientific heritage of drug discovery for human health. We are pleased that we are able to continue and add to this reputation and cement British leadership in this essential field.

“We have always thought it was important to invest in the future for new scientists too, and chose Discovery Park because it places a similar emphasis on young scientists.

“We are looking forward to immersing Transpharmation in the STEM and school education activities on the park.”