Randox is an international health and toxicology company in the ''
in vitro
''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...
'' diagnostics industry headquartered in the UK, and owned by
Peter FitzGerald. The company develops diagnostic solutions for hospitals, clinical, research and molecular labs, food testing, forensic toxicology, veterinary labs and
life science
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...
s. It develops, manufactures and markets reagents and equipment for
laboratory medicine
A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical Medical labor ...
, with a distribution network of 145 countries. Randox is the biggest
polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...
testing provider in the
UK and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Randox received three contracts by the
Department of Health and Social Care without having to
compete for a tender.
In 2020, Randox was awarded nearly £500 million by the
UK government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
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, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
to provide private-sector COVID-19 testing at the cost of about £49 per kit.
History
Randox was established in 1982 by its owner,
Peter FitzGerald, in
Crumlin, Northern Ireland.
Beginning with a team of six employees, by 2020 the company had 2,700 employees. In 2014 it invested €25 million in developing a site in
Dungloe,
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
, aiming to create more than 470 jobs in research, engineering and life sciences by 2020. It moved into the Randox Science Park, a 45-acre R&D and manufacturing site housed on the former
Massereene Barracks
Massereene Barracks is a former military installation in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
History
The site was acquired from Clotworthy Skeffington, 11th Viscount Massereene for a shooting range in 1893. In 1942, during the Second World War, the Admi ...
in 2019. Randox Health has sponsored the
Grand National at
Aintree racecourse
Aintree Racecourse is a horse racing, racecourse in Aintree, Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, bordering the city of Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase, whi ...
since 2017. The company was restructured in March 2020 to be ultimately held by Randox (IOM) Ltd based in the Isle of Man. The company stated this was "to support any future transfer of company ownership to future generations" but ''The Times'' noted that the move could help the company avoid paying millions in tax. In April 2022, the company purchased Boston House in
Fitzroy Square, London for £29m from the entrepreneur
Touker Suleyman and was expected to spend a further £15m to convert the property into The Randox Institute which will be an education centre for
personalised healthcare
Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision medicine, is a medical model that separates people into different groups—with medical decisions, practices, interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on thei ...
.
[
]
Data tampering
In 2014 Randox acquired a laboratory in Manchester from Trimega Laboratories which had gone into administration. In February 2017, two Randox employees were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice amid allegations of data tampering within Randox Testing Services, used by many Police Forces in England and Wales for forensic toxicology. As of November 2017, around 50 criminal prosecutions for driving offences had been dropped in what BBC home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, described as "the biggest forensic science scandal in the UK for decades". Police forces have begun reviewing over 10,000 criminal cases that may be affected by the alleged data manipulation, including sexual and violent crimes.
Lobbying government
In March 2019 it was reported that former cabinet minister and Conservative MP Owen Paterson
Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...
, who was a consultant to Randox, had helped to lobby the government to seek contracts for them. This violated rules stating that an MP may not lobby on behalf of a paying client. Paterson communicated with the Food Standards Agency three times in relation to testing for antibiotics in milk and the Department for International Development four times in relation to blood testing.
Coronavirus testing
In May 2020, the company was awarded a £133 million contract by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) without having to compete for a tender. When asked if Paterson had lobbied on behalf of the company a spokesman for DHSC said they were "unable to comment on the personnel matters of other organisations".
On 7 August 2020, the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency requested Randox to recall the Randox COVID-19 Home Testing Kit due to safety concerns in a measure it described as precautionary.
On 4 November 2020, the UK awarded a 6-month extension of the original contract for £347 million in COVID-19 testing without a public tender. On 16 November, Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's ''Dispatches'' said that Randox were managing test processing facilities in a manner which could lead to people not receiving test results, cross contamination through the leaking of test results, and workers facing unsafe conditions; however, Randox denies these claims. In June 2021, the company signed a two-year deal with the British Olympic Association to test the British Team for COVID-19.
In total, Randox was awarded £777m by the UK government for COVID testing and it provided 23 million tests. It contributed to Randox's sales increasing from £118m in 2018 to £218m from January 2019 to June 2020 and to £619m the following year. The company moved from making a loss prior to June 2020 to a pre-tax profit of £275m the following year.[ The National Audit Office (NAO) reported in March 2022 on the government's contracts with Randox, observing that "the documentation of the decision-making process for such large contracts was inadequate", and Government did "not document key decisions adequately when awarding a contract". The gaps in the audit trail meant the NAO was "not able to provide positive assurance in the normal way, but ]he NAO
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' i ...
has not seen any evidence that the government’s contracts with Randox were awarded improperly".
Employment
Several legal actions were taken by many employees against the company.
An employee filed a lawsuit against Randox after being discriminated against because of his weight. In addition, its former international business manager was also fired because after being praised for his efforts in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and for a presentation on the business plan for Randox. The tribunal awarded him over £70,000 for Randox's unfair dismissal. With the support of Unite legal services, a female Randox employee sued Randox after a dispute over maternity pay. The court favoured the employee and granted her compensation.
In April 2021, Randox posted notices in its Donegal Gaeltacht facility forbidding employees from speaking any language other than English in the workplace. The company receives significant funding from Údarás na Gaeltachta
Údarás na Gaeltachta (; meaning "Gaeltacht Authority"), abbreviated UnaG, is a regional state agency which is responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) regions of Ireland. Its stated purpose is t ...
, which is charged with industrial development in Irish-speaking areas. When challenged, the company withdrew the notices, but the matter received significant attention in the Irish media.
References
{{reflist
Biotechnology companies of the United Kingdom
Research support companies
Manufacturing companies of Northern Ireland
Biotechnology companies established in 1982
1982 establishments in Northern Ireland
Brands of Northern Ireland