"I decided to risk starting a company, manufacturing products for health service laboratories. At that time, the main issue concerning myself was the decision I had just made to leave a secure job in the Pathology Department of Aintree and Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool to set up a new, exciting but very risky business venture, manufacturing antibiotic susceptibility test discs.

The early years were all about disc manufacturing fuelled by the explosion of new antibiotics coming onto the market with different mechanisms of action. Gradually though we moved into other product areas. We have always had a major commitment to research and product development and in 1980 we pioneered a succession of products for antibiotic breakpoint susceptibility testing using the inherent benefits of multipoint technology, the most successful being Mast Adatab. To assist exchange of information on multipoint technology issues we financially supported the formation and early running of an independent scientific society called The British Society for Multipoint Technology (BSMT). Still functioning today as the broader based British Society for Microbial Technology.