Austrian firm expands Scottish site

Intercell Biomedical`s manufacturing plant in Livingston is dedicated to the production of a vaccine for Japanese Encephalitis (JE).

The firm has recently received regulatory approval to sell the vaccine, the first of its kind, in Europe and America. To meet the expected increase in demand, Intercell hopes to increase its team of 80 Scottish workers, as well as expand the site.

We have developed this site and constantly invested in it both in capital and people terms

Thomas Lingelbach

Chief Operating Officer

Intercell AG

Thomas Lingelbach, Chief Operating Officer of Intercell AG, said increased capacity would in turn lead to further product development at Livingston.

Japanese Encephalitis is spread by mosquitoes and is a particularly problem in Asia. About 30,000 to 50,000 people are infected every year, and the disease proves fatal in around 30% of cases.

Mr Lingelbach said: "We have developed this site and constantly invested in it both in capital and people terms. Now we have a top-class manufacturing site which is capable of making this biological product to the highest quality standards in the world. Once this is completed, in roughly two years, we will definitely leverage the asset here by putting in different development activities for products we have in the pipeline.

The manufacturing of the vaccine sustains a highly trained scientific skill base in Scotland which is great for the economy, site director at Livingston, David Venables, said.

Intercell, which has its headquarters in Vienna, plans to supply its JE vaccine to the US military, along with European and US travellers.

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