Improving lives through product excellence


Alpha Laboratories is a privately- owned business specialising in laboratory supplies and diagnostic products. It celebrates 40 years next month, during which time technology has changed both the products and the market dramatically. Sue Hughes spoke to chairman David Giles


Giles drew on his experience working for a multinational medical company when he became the catalyst behind Alpha Laboratories’ formation in 1975. It is now a journey which spans four decades of biotechnical innovation.


The Alpha Laboratories business began with the sale of disposable pipette tips. Later, as a pioneer in positive displacement pipetting, the company made great strides but these products fell out of favour worldwide due to the onset of HIV and increasing hepatitis. Cue: product change – and with a cash injection following a somewhat shaky start, Alpha Laboratories began to prosper and moved from Middlesex to Eastleigh in 1980. Giles’ background in biomedical science provided a useful knowledge base, as did his sales experience from the mid-1960s and travel with the RAF.


Having bought shares, he joined as MD in 1984 and, in a fast-paced era, brought a diagnostic background and experience to the company at a critical time for product growth, as it supplied (and continues to supply) laboratory consumables and clinical diagnostic reagents.


“Alpha Laboratories is not a manufacturer, but we source innovative products internationally to support the needs of UK laboratories. We have developed and survived by having a wide range of products and an extensive customer base,“ he said.


“It gives us a secure foundation, but because of continually-changing technologies we try to ensure we have a maximum of 10% of our business with any one supplier. We also secure very solid agreements with high-level suppliers; for example, we have a 10-year contract with one diagnostic partner.“


With 53 staff, this is a small company with global reach. “We have developed by ’looking after customers and their patients’ and by always providing products that bring functional or cost-saving benefits. From that we have gained a solid reputation for being straight, honest and helpful, with emphasis on being a friendly organisation too.“


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A member of staff recently retired after 32 years’ service and Giles has seen people leave, moved round then return at a later date, because they like working for what is an old- school company with modern embellishments, driven by e-commerce. Alpha Laboratories is heavily involved in this and it has opened up its product catalogue to new customers around the world, although its market has always been mainly focused in Europe.


“Science is a global business, but few products are sourced from Britain, because the existence of the NHS has failed to stimulate any supply company of significant size. German, US, Swiss or Japanese companies dominate the market,“ he continued.


However, Alpha Laboratories has pioneered developments in the UK, especially in the niche market of bowel cancer screening diagnostics and products to differentiate inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. The company has sourced a quantitative FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test) for haemoglobin, the best test to use for detecting bowel cancer.


Correct diagnosis is the first critical step that enables appropriate action for patients’ medical conditions. “Sepsis, a common and potentially life-threatening condition triggered by an infection, is traditionally diagnosed via blood culture and formerly it took 18 hours to identify the microbe isolated. Advanced techniques being introduced by Alpha Laboratories mean it can now be identified in 20 minutes from a positive blood culture. When you need to get the correct antibiotic into a patient sooner rather than later, minutes count.“


Through worldwide connections with leading manufacturers, established and emerging suppliers, Alpha Laboratories sources the best products to help solve the problems faced by laboratory clinicians on a daily basis.


Its expertise has brought it to the attention of the Government and it has carefully cultivated


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MAY 2015


its reputation for screening product excellence, with many connections to key opinion leaders. The highly-qualified staff includes three PhDs.


Some issues such as those surrounding VAT charges to the NHS for products and services make this business complex. They may be frustrating, but do not hold the company back. Alpha Laboratories is on course for sales of over £10 million this year.


It’s an environment where people rise to the top, such as MD Robert Vint, who began packing goods in the warehouse, but progressed through systems, purchasing and IT. Giles is proud of making every effort to develop his staff as far as they can or wish to go.


A consultative manager by nature, he sought staff opinions on how they would like to mark the 40th anniversary and consequently they are off on a two-day cruise to Guernsey on P&O’s Ventura.


He concluded: “We’re quite a small player in a market that has continually demanding requirements. We find solutions and develop them in the UK market. We want to improve people’s lives with science. For me it’s a key motivator.“


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