New blood at top for diabetes test kit firm

Published on Sunday 16 September 2007 01:23

JOHNSON & Johnson, the medical giant, has promoted Todd Kinser to run its Life-scan diabetic test kit division in Inverness following the low-key departure of plant boss Mike Crowe.

Kinser moved to a management role at Lifescan, the biggest private sector employer in the Highlands, from another J&J subsidiary late last year. In his new role he will run Lifescan's main site in Inverness which employs 1,500 production staff and scientists, a factory in Puerto Rico and sales offices around the world. The division makes the OneTouch test kit which helps diabetics monitor their blood glucose levels.

Crowe, who was also a director of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC, departed quietly in July as 20 employees were made redundant. He left for another job at J&J in the US.

A spokeswoman said: "In large corporations, people move around between different jobs. This does not change anything."

She said the recent job losses had affected all areas of the company. "We had a global restructure across all functions to enable us to compete in the market place. We are concentrating now on innovation and development."

J&J has been shaking up its worldwide operations over recent months. In August it announced the closure of two drug factories in California.

The Lifescan division enjoyed a 12% rise in sales to more than 500m in the six months to June. But the unit was hit by the appearance of an estimated one million fake OneTouch test strips from China which were sold in the US, Canada, Greece, India, Pakistan and Turkey.

Lifescan, which was established as Inverness Medical in 1995 and later bought by J&J, is seen as the driving force behind Inverness's recent phenomenal growth. But the company likes to keep a low profile, limiting its announcements to product news and community projects.

Two years ago Lifescan's chief financial officer, Stuart Paterson, was ousted as part of a boardroom clear-out ordered by J&J. This year he set up a medical test technology company, SureSensors, with two other former Life-scan executives - Olly Davies, who was research and development director, and Geoff Hall, who held the same position before Davies.