After a nationwide search, Australian fertility group Genea set up its European headquarters for its IVF technologies company Genea Biomedx and stem cell company Genea Biocells at Discovery Park in Sandwich, choosing the site ahead of possible alternatives in Oxford and Cambridge.
To support the move, Genea was awarded an interest-free Expansion East Kent grant, supported by the Regional Growth Fund and managed by Kent County Council, to help it access the growing European IVF and life sciences market.
Europe is a key market for Genea Biomedx, with 90 per cent of the world’s IVF clinics in the Northern Hemisphere and 40 per cent in Europe.
Kim Giliam, Genea Biomedx Commercial Director, said: “Discovery Park ticks all of the boxes. It’s close to all forms of transport to continental Europe as well as direct flights to North America and Asia, there are state of the art facilities and valuable support from local government.”
Genea Biomedx will release a new generation of its world leading embryo culture medium in early 2015. The first and second generations of Genea’s embryo culture medium are in use in more than 600 clinics across 60 countries under the name Sydney IVF Media Suite.
As Sydney IVF, Genea developed the first triple sequential media system and produced the first ready to use embryo culture media with no additional preparatory steps needed by the user.
Discovery Park will also be home to Genea Biocells’ future clinical stem cell media manufacturing hub.
