Worcester Business Journal

20 Worcester Business Journal • May 9, 2016 www.wbjournal.com THANK YOU! MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & Worcester Business Journal's EXCELLENCE AWARDS MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & WORCESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL'S EXCELLENCE AWARDS to our speakers, award honorees, sponsors and all who joined us for an evening of collaboration, celebration and networking! SPEAKERS: JAY ASH Secretary, State of Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development PETER RUSSO Growth and Innovation Program Manager, MassMEP MICHAEL DETARANDO President & CEO, Incom BILL LAURSEN Senior Vice President, Sales and Strategy, Coghlin Companies, Inc. NEIL MCDONOUGH President & CEO, FLEXcon LESLIE E. GREIS Owner/Director Kinefac Corporation MANUFAC TURING EXCELLENCE AWARDS HONOREES: • Aaron Industries Corp. • Columbia Tech, a Coghlin Co. • Flexcon Co., Inc. • Incom, Inc. • Industrial Packaging • Philips Precision, Inc. • Space Age Electronics, Inc. • Tegra Medical In partnership with Presenting Sponsor Supporting Sponsors Corporate Sponsor GBMP: Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership James Monroe Wire & Cable Corp Prism Energy Services Quinsigamond Community College Saint-Gobain Ron Bouley Photography (www.ronbouleyphoto.com) SPONSORS: View the event video and photos at www.wbjournal.com/manufacturing New Web Industries facility focuses on quick diagnostics tests "Right now lateral flow devices are about 20, 25 percent of our business. Over the next few years they're going to be over 50 percent of our business, and it could be over the next 10 years it will be about 80 percent of our business," Radlo- Zandi said. Radlo-Zandi spoke at the launch of a new production center that brings LFI tests along the supply chain from s cient if ic de velopment to commercialization under one roof. It's a new facility that is an expansion of m a n u f a c t u r e r Web Industries' Web B oston facility, located in Holliston. Since their first c o m m e r c i a l launch on the market in the late 1980s, LFI devices have been used in c l i n i c a l , v e t e r i n a r y , agricultural, food, bio-defense and e n v i r o n m e n t a l settings, according to the website of Cytodiagnostics, a C a n a d i a n b i o t e c h n o l o g y company that manufactures parts for the tests. Web Industries built the facility because it wanted to bridge the gap between the science and commercialization aspects of LFI test production, said Blake Batley, the company's chief sales officer. "These are devices that need to be rapid in terms of their results. They need to be incredibly accurate and precise," Batley said. "They need to be able to provide very complex results, but in a form that take on an easy-use form – one that can be used at point of care or point of application. They need to be lower cost, they need to be readily available around the world for a number of applications." Why LFI? According to a report by research provider MarketsandMarkets, the lateral flow assay market has an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 8.3 percent between 2015 and 2020, when the market is expected to be valued at $6.78 billion. The market's growth will be driven by increased usage of the tests in home settings, their i n c r e a s i n g applications in c l i n i c a l diagnostics, a rising elderly population, a high prevalence of infectious diseases and other factors. North America had the market's largest share in 2014, followed by Europe, but LFI devices' most rapid growth will take place in the A s i a - P a c i f i c region because of its less stringent regulations and healthcare factors l i k e r i s i n g a w a r e n e s s , improving infrastructure and increasing demand for better value. Demand for LFI devices is growing because they're easy to use and provide quick diagnoses without having to be sent away to a lab for results, said Angus McQuilken, vice president for communications and marketing at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC). The tests can work well in early-stage detections for several infectious diseases, like the Zika and Ebola viruses, McQuilken said. Several Massachusetts companies, including Boston diabetes care startup Jana Care, use LFI BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer M ost people are familiar with how a home pregnancy test works, but the same technology behind those devices is used in different ways and in different industries outside of life sciences, such as food and beverage, veterinary services, water quality and environmental safety. VICAM, a business unit of Milford-based Waters Corp. that provides mycotoxin test solutions and food safety technology, uses lateral flow immunoassay testing (LFI), the same technology behind home pregnancy testing products, to test products. LFI tests account for about 20 percent of VICAM's business, but Managing Director Marjorie Radlo-Zandi said that is going to grow. "These are devices that need to be rapid in terms of their results. They need to be incredibly accurate and precise. They need to be able to provide very complex results," - Blake Batley, chief sales officer, Web Industries

• Cover