DRUG discovery, development and analytical services company Concept Life Sciences has invested a further £250,000 in new equipment at its East Kilbride site, to ramp up capacity, and is creating jobs at the facility.

The investment at the analytical services site follows more than £250,000 of expenditure on new instrumentation added to the facility in 2016.

Manchester-based Concept said the East Kilbride investment had doubled capacity across many capabilities, including gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry.

It added that the investment was part of a wider programme to upgrade and add to systems, to “better support customers’ testing requirements and provide faster turnaround times”.

Concept, formed in 2014 with backing from private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe, said it planned to add eight full-time equivalent posts at East Kilbride to handle the increased workload, having already created seven such jobs at the site this year.

Last month, Concept unveiled its acquisition of Edinburgh-based Aquila BioMedical. In 2015, Concept acquired Dundee-based CXR Biosciences.

Darryl Chapman, vice-president of sales and marketing at Concept, said: “The recent investments in the East Kilbride site demonstrate Concept’s continued commitment to enhancing the customer experience, and to growing the business in Scotland.

“This latest investment brings Concept’s total investment into the Scottish economy in the last three years to in excess of £20 million, following the acquisition of businesses in Dundee and Edinburgh.”