Angel buys Newcastle factory

ANGEL Biotechnology, the Edinburgh-based maker of supplies for the life sciences industry, yesterday revealed that it has signed a 15-year lease on a factory in Cramlington, near Newcastle.

Aim-quoted Angel is taking on the plant to cope with the rise in demand for its services, including stem cell research.

Gordon Sherriff, Angel's chief operating officer, said the firm would keep its headquarters at Edinburgh's Pentland Science Park. He added: "The clean rooms at Cramlington are much larger than those in Edinburgh, allowing us to undertake larger programmes, providing the capacity required to take major clients through phase three clinical trials and beyond."

Sherriff said that the cost of fitting out the facility would be met using the 1.9 million that Angel raised during January's share placing.