Celsis International, a UK-based company specialising in microbiological screening, has won a contract to provide its systems to GlaxoSmithKline as a preferred supplier. Celsis has a long-standing relationship with GSK, having already installed six rapid microbiological testing systems at the multinational's sites.
Celsis' pharmaceutical customers use the UK firm's systems to detect low-level contamination in the production lines. The company's ATP bioluminescense-based systems can be used to reduce the turnaround time for microbial testing from five to seven days to 24-48 hours.
This means manufacturers can release stock sooner and make savings in warehousing costs, according to Celsis. It also enables the costs associated with a contamination event to be reduced, as obtaining microbial results in one to two days lowers the amount of production impacted by the event.
Jay leCoque, Celsis' chief executive, noted that the new contract with GSK indicates that the company's efforts in regulatory partnerships are paying off. The deal also validates the company's approach of trying to enter into broad-ranging partnerships with customers so that Celsis' systems can be implemented "not just in the UK or the US, but anywhere our customers have a manufacturing or R&D facility in the world."