‘Proper SME’ ranked alongside multinationals is accelerating its expansion
By Chris Wheal
February 12, 2024
(L to R): Seamus Keane from award sponsor Keune & Nagel, Ger McCabe, Sebastian Laschke & Anja Rothkamp from Biostor
Biostor is a small firm that thinks big. Adding more and more services to its bio storage core was central to its entry to the Pharma Industry Awards in 2023, winning it the Pharma Company of the Year – SME category.
But the awards night was the fillip it needed to accelerate its expansion. “On the night, people started coming up to us and asking about what we do and whether we could do other things to help them too,” says Ger McCabe, chief operating officer of Biostor Ireland.
“When we put that we had won the award on our website, social media and email signatures, our existing clients started asking us about the award and who we were up against and then started discussing what they’d like us to do next. It really did open doors for us.”
Top billing
On top of winning its category, Biostor found itself named as one of three contenders for the Pharma Industry Company of the Year, alongside Takeda and MSD. The judges themselves nominate the companies shortlisted for this award. “There we were being billed alongside these two great multinationals. That was nearly as good as winning our SME category,” says McCabe.
The company started in 2008 storing human tissues for business across the EU, complying also with US laws. It added additional services to help life science companies in licensing, registering, launching and distributing their products. Most recently it has started procuring samples, such as cancerous tissues, for researchers. It is now developing full lab services.
“People at the awards were interested in what we already did, but asking about these additional services, and some of our existing clients started saying they’d take lab services from us if we offered it. It was something I was thinking we might do in three or four years’ time but people were asking me on the night, and since, so we’re bringing it forward,” says McCabe.
Biostor is also looking to set up a bio store in the US within the next three years to help meet the needs of multinational clients. “Our footprint was always international and global, but our reach has grown since the award. We’ve had interest from the US and Asia as well as domestically,” McCabe says.
Rapid growth
McCabe joined Biostor in 2022 when the company had just two full-time staff and one part-time. It now employs seven, has one more joining shortly and expects to have at least 10 staff by the end of the year. “We are a proper SME,” he says.
“We just thought being listed as a nominee in the Pharma Industry Awards would be great. Being shortlisted was fantastic. But it was our first ever entry and we never thought we’d win – only three of us went to the awards night. Seeing our name in lights and being able to mix with all those multinationals was something special.”
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