LGC Group, formerly the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, is an international
life sciences
This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...
measurement and tools company. It provides the role and duties of the UK Government Chemist, a statutory role and adviser to the government. LGC also hosts the UK's National Measurement Laboratory (NML) for chemical and bio-measurement, which performs measurements for diagnostics, advanced
therapeutics
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...
, safety and security, among others.
Functions
LGC provides measurement products and services, including reference materials and proficiency testing, genomics reagents and instrumentation, and sample analysis and interpretation. LGC serves customers in pharmaceuticals, agricultural biotechnology, diagnostics, and others.
LGC operates through the genomics and standards divisions.
In the genomics division, the offering has been built around core capabilities that are intended for many genomics applications:
* Nucleic acid chemistry, specifically the design, development, and manufacture of complex and modified RUO (Research Use Only) and cGMP oligonucleotides and related products for molecular diagnostics and therapeutics;
* Molecular biology, specifically the design and engineering of reagents, kits, and other critical components, including enzymes, sample preparation magnetic beads, instruments, and consumables for use in PCR and NGS workflows;
* Complete PCR workflow products intended for high throughput PCR applications.
The Standards offering has been built around capabilities that are used for quality assurance applications:
* Quality control materials for use by clinical and molecular diagnostics customers to support assay development and commercialization, as well as the delivery of consistently accurate measurements in clinical laboratories, while proficiency testing schemes provide a framework for regular, independent assessment of laboratory performance;
* Reference materials and analytical standards for pharmaceutical and applied market segments for development, validation, and quality control of analytical testing methods, from applied research and discovery through to analytical testing laboratories and the final manufacturing of drug products;
* Supply chain assurance products for organizations in the food, beverage, and consumer safety market segments to support consistent quality criteria through the supply chain, including management system standards used by food manufacturing sites, proficiency testing schemes, consumer-facing endorsement marks, and provision of digital supply chain management products.
LGC participated in the European Reference Materials consortium, together with the
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), located in Geel, Belgium, is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission (EC).
The IRMM promotes a common and reliab ...
(IRMM) of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
's
Directorate General Joint Research Centre and the
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (german: , or BAM) is a German material research institute.
History
Its historical origins start in 1871, a year in which Germany was unified, as the ''Mechanisch-Technische Versuchsansta ...
, Germany (BAM).
UK Government Chemist
The Government Chemist is a person appointed with statutory duties prescribed in seven acts of Parliament, supported by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC). In addition, this person is an advisor to the government on relevant matters. As of 2018, both these functions are funded by the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
(BEIS), but LGC is a private company, and the Government Chemist, Julian Braybrook,
is an employee of LGC.
History
Origins
![Government Laboratory , c1965 (3832931669)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Government_Laboratory_%2C_c1965_%283832931669%29.jpg)
In 1842 the
Department of Excise set up a laboratory in its Broad Street headquarters to check
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
for
adulteration
An adulterant is caused by the act of adulteration, a practice of secretly mixing a substance with another. Typical substances that are adulterated include but are not limited to food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuel, or other chemicals, that ...
, i.e. the addition of other substances to increase profits and evade duty. (The amount of tobacco sold was much greater than imported.) One employee, George Phillips, used a microscope and chemical tests, most of which he had developed himself. The work of the laboratory expanded to check for adulteration in pepper, beer and coffee with additional staff being employed under Phillips, and a new laboratory was opened in
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...
in 1859, by which time Excise had joined the
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...
. In 1861 it dealt with 11,000 samples. The work also expanded to include foodstuffs and soap, and in 1874 Phillips had 12 permanent staff. The Inland Revenue Laboratory, as it was now known, was appointed a Referee Analyst under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875, i.e. one whose findings were accepted in a court of law. This greatly added to the number of samples being submitted.
In 1894 an official Government Laboratory was set up, combining both the Inland Revenue Laboratory and a separate
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
Laboratory which had been set up in 1860, moving to purpose-built premises in
Clement's Inn
The Inns of Chancery or ''Hospida Cancellarie'' were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from a ...
Passage in 1897. The head was Dr Edward Thorpe, with the title of Principal Chemist, who expanded its activities to include health problems caused by the match and lead-glazing industries.
[ His report of 1907 states that 173,606 analyses and examinations were made on behalf of the departments of Customs and Excise, other departments, and in connection with two acts, the Food And Drugs Act and the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act.]
First Government Chemist
In 1911 the Government Laboratory became an independent department of government (the smallest one under the Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...
) as the Department of the Government Chemist. The Principal, Dr James Dobbie, was the first to be given the new title of Government Chemist.[ The analysis of tobacco remained a substantial part of the work, being greatly increased during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
because of supplies to troops.[ Demand increased with interwar legislation, and the Laboratory had to do considerable original research to develop new and better analysis methods. The number of routine samples between 1920 and 1939 went from 199,388 to 430,314.][ It was also asked by the government to look into methods associated with the carriage of dangerous goods, atmospheric pollution, and the possible dangers to health arising from the use of ]tetraethyllead
Tetraethyllead (commonly styled tetraethyl lead), abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula Pb( C2H5)4. It is a fuel additive, first being mixed with gasoline beginning in the 1920s as a patented octane rating booster that al ...
in motor fuel.[ ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
produced a peak demand of 560 354 samples.[
]
Creation of the Laboratory of the Government Chemist
In 1959 the Government Laboratory ceased to be a separate department but instead was under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
, and in 1963 moved to new premises in Cornwall House, Waterloo, London as the Laboratory of the Government Chemist.[ In 1989 it was changed into an ]Executive Agency
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
under the Department of Trade and Industry. This gave it the remit to seek outside work (which it already did to a significant extent) and earn income to fully cover costs, while having more management autonomy.[ It also moved to new premises in ]Teddington
Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...
.[
]
Privatization
As part of a general programme of privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of public services by the government, Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served a ...
announced that Laboratory of the Government Chemist would become an independent non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, or could possibly be bought by a company or institution which could show that it would remain sufficiently independent to fulfill its statutory duties. However, the undertakings required to meet these obligations indefinitely meant that 40 initial expressions of interest produced only three considered suitable to bid, and no actual bids. A consortium of Laboratory employees, the Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
and 3i put together a bid in 1995, which was accepted, taking the form of a management buyout
A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...
. It became LGC Ltd in February 1996.[
]
Post Privatization
Since privatisation, LGC has changed ownership and significantly expanded its activities. Valued at £3 million when privatized, it was sold for £80 million in 2003 to LGV, part of Legal & General
Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...
, who sold it in 2010 to Bridgepoint Capital
Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. ...
for the sum of £257 million, who in turn sold it in 2015 to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
. In 2020, KKR sold LGC to a consortium led by private equity companies Cinven
Cinven is a global private equity firm founded in 1977, with offices in nine international locations in Guernsey, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Luxembourg, Madrid, and Hong Kong that acquires Europe and United States based corporat ...
and Astorg.
Employee numbers have risen from 270 in 1996 to about 4,350 in 2021, as the company has grown organically and through multiple acquisitions. Acquisitions since 1996 include: KBioscience, AGOWA, Forensic Alliance Limited, Mikromol, Promochem, University Diagnostics Ltd, HFL, ARMI, VHG Labs, Quotient Bioanalytical Sciences, Dr Ehrenstorfer, Biosearch Technologies, Thistle QA, Maine Standards, Prime Synthesis, immunosuppressive proficiency testing (PT) scheme from ASI, BRC Global Standards, o2si, Seracare Life Sciences, Lucigen, Bioautomation, Berry & Associates, MBH Analytical, Toronto Research Chemicals, CDN Isotopes,, the Native Antigen Company, Safefood 360, Technopath Clinical Diagnostics, and Paragon; and the outsourcing of analytical services from BNG and Sentinel Performance Solutions.
See also
* ISO/IEC 17025
ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories is the main ISO/IEC standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. In most countries, ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must ho ...
* Good Laboratory Practice
In the experimental (non-clinical) research arena, good laboratory practice or GLP is a quality system of management controls for research laboratories and organizations to ensure the uniformity, consistency, reliability, reproducibility, quality, ...
(GLP)
* Good manufacturing practice
Current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are those conforming to the guidelines recommended by relevant agencies. Those agencies control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture and sale of food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceutica ...
(GMP)
* Reference values
In medicine and health-related fields, a reference range or reference interval is the range or the interval of values that is deemed normal for a physiological measurement in healthy persons (for example, the amount of creatinine in the blood, or ...
References
{{coord, 51, 25, 25, N, 0, 20, 32, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
Chemical companies of the United Kingdom
Forensic genetics
Forensics organizations
Genetics in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Privatised executive agencies of the United Kingdom government
Standards organisations in the United Kingdom
Teddington