Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar welcomed the five-year contract secured by Irish laboratory diagnostics specialists, Serosep, with Liverpool University Hospital, on his trade mission to the UK organised by Enterprise Ireland.

Serosep announced that they have secured a five-year contract (3+2 contract) with Liverpool University Hospital to supply its innovative molecular diagnostic solution, EntericBio, used to diagnose gastroenteritis. Valued at over £1 million, the contract builds further on its successful UK footprint.

The announcement of the Serosep’s new contract with Liverpool University Hospital was made at an Enterprise Ireland hosted healthcare roundtable in London yesterday, which Ireland’s deputy prime minister and minister for enterprise, trade and employment, Leo Varadkar TD took part in on the first leg of a three-country trade mission to the UK, France and Germany focussed on further boosting trade collaboration.

Leading the trade mission to the UK, Leo Varadkar TD said: “Ireland and Britain will always have a close relationship. Our two countries are interlinked in myriad different ways, and we will be looking to strengthen those ties as we emerge from the pandemic and face into future challenges, such as climate change and digitalisation. Irish companies have created over 125,000 jobs in Britain. By working closely together, building on existing partnerships and building new ones, we hope to create more jobs and prosperity for both countries.”

Bringing together clinical and industry professionals from across the UK and Ireland’s healthcare and life science sectors, the health innovation roundtable opened by Varadkar enabled discussions to explore ways in which further collaboration can take place. Focussed on healthtech innovation and transformation, the roundtable was attended by senior clinicians, NHS Hospital Trust leaders, UK based healthcare companies, along with NHSX who lead the overall strategy for digital transformation across the NHS. In remarks at the event, Varadkar praised the efforts of healthcare practitioners for navigating through the enormous challenge of the global pandemic which demonstrated the benefits of working in close cooperation to overcome the disease.

One of the participants of the roundtable was Limerick based Serosep, a supplier to NHS hospital trusts in the UK including, Public Health Wales, HSL Laboratories (comprising of University College London, Royal Free, North Middlesex Hospital and The Doctors Laboratory), St. Georges Hospital, Imperial College London & Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, among others.

Dermot Scanlon, chief executive officer, Serosep Ltd, said: “In the UK, around one in five people gets gastroenteritis each year. As Serosep continues their bid to be the leading laboratory diagnostics specialists in microbiology, histopathology and environmental testing, working with Liverpool University Hospital will pave the way to revolutionising molecular enteric testing worldwide.”

The EntericBio system provides a modular menu for enteric testing, detecting and identifying GI pathogens including Bacteria, Parasites, CPE and Viruses within the same workflow and platform with a result for up to 46 specimens per run in less than three hours and results for consecutive runs each hour.

Irish companies have been adding value to the UK through the delivery of brilliant Irish innovation to benefit local partners throughout the UK. The Serosep test uses robotic processing and artificial intelligent software to assist in the diagnostic process, enabling labs to provide rapid results by eliminating the need for DNA extraction and manual pipetting steps.

Accompanying the Irish deputy prime minister on the trade mission, Enterprise Ireland’s chief executive Leo Clancy said: “Our long-standing business relationship with the UK is built on the shared values that exists between both countries, as well as our pro-enterprise and pro-competition business environments. The deals announced on this trade mission will see more jobs created in the UK, even closer links between our two business communities, and advancing innovation to solve the challenges of the world today.

“With our team of Market Advisors working across the UK, Enterprise Ireland is helping both Irish and British companies to find collaborations that solve the challenges they face to create opportunities for further growth, greater competitive advantage in the global marketplace, and to create and sustain jobs.”

More than two decades since its inception, Serosep continues to seek to improve the quality of patient results and the daily lives of the scientists and the laboratory and hospital professionals with whom it offers easy to use diagnostic solutions.