Belfast Research Firm To Create 28 New Jobs

Up to 28 new jobs are to be created by Belfast-based clinical research firm, Fusion Antibodies.

Supported by £213,000 from Invest Northern Ireland, the recruitment drive will help Fusion deliver its services to its growing international customer base.

Announcing the expansion, Paul Kerr, Managing Director of Fusion Antibodies said: "Invest NI continues to provide excellent support as we look to expand the business rapidly and to capitalise on our position as a successful international CRO providing a range of antibody engineering services.

"The work to more than double the capacity of our laboratory and office space is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, ahead of our original schedule. The new employees will include technically skilled staff working to deliver our current services to biopharma companies.

"We are also recruiting scientists with specialised skills to work in our new product development team on the establishment of our antibody affinity maturation service and the creation of a mammalian antibody library. In addition, our growth strategy, focussed on reinvigorating and expanding our new business development and sales function, will benefit from further resource in this area."

Grainne McVeigh, Invest NI's Director of Life Sciences, said: "This expansion is an exciting milestone for Fusion Antibodies which is among a dynamic group of companies contributing to our growing Life and Health Sciences sector.

"Invest NI has been working alongside the business for many years and we are delighted to be helping Fusion Antibodies to scale up its workforce and target market opportunities with drug development and diagnostics companies across the globe."

Image: (L to R) Grainne McVeigh, Director of Life Sciences, Invest Northern Ireland and Paul Kerr, Managing Director of Fusion Antibodies.

(LM)