Partner: Novopath
Project: The Novopath laboratory, part of Newcastle Hospitals, offers high-quality, specialist technical services to researchers, academics, healthcare providers and industry. The lab operates as an innovation hub for tissue-based diagnostics. It facilitates the discovery, refinement, adoption and evaluation of cell and molecular biomarkers – precision diagnostics for precision medicine, to clearly and carefully identify, diagnose and track disease.
How we helped: Our team has supported Novopath colleagues on the journey from a grant-funded model to becoming a commercially viable entity, in effect becoming the commercial face of the Novopath service.
Becoming an embedded member of the team has allowed us to gain a clear understanding of the ‘laboratory journey’ and its offer to customers. This has included a comprehensive review of the range of services the laboratory offers, including equipment, capabilities and the costing model.
The capacity of the lab team and the service model was evaluated to explore potential areas for growth. A robust pricing structure has been developed and we have provided contractual support to speed up the process from inquiry, through to agreement and completion, with the service now turning most contracts round within one to two weeks.
A key focus has been on reviewing the pricing strategy to reflect the market value of Novopath’s highly specialist services, whilst maintaining a valuable asset for academics, researchers and start-up enterprises.
We have also supported Novopath with a marketing and communications strategy to amplify the service’s online presence and reach new audiences.
Outcome: Our support has enabled Novopath to compete in new markets and has supported the laboratory’s growth into the wider commercial market, which has in turn increased income. The lab now has the ability to support academic and commercial partners, which requires working at pace to progress projects from an inquiry through to agreement and completion.
The commercial enterprise team has been involved in 70% of Novopath’s revenue in the financial year 2021/22 and the lab is on course to become financially sustainable in 2022/23.
The commercial enterprise team has been invaluable in the transition of NovoPath over the last 18 months. We have grown as a service and are now fully integrated within the cellular pathology laboratory of Newcastle Hospitals.
The team has provided a skillset which we, as a medical laboratory, did not have. Their knowledge has allowed us to commercially price our work, better recover costs and set up service agreements to ensure billing is timely.
The team has enabled us to secure high-income projects that otherwise may not have been possible. They are professional, very personable and always a pleasure to deal with.
I hope that we are able to continue and build on the solid relationship we have. Thank you for all you have done.”
Chris Kettle, operational manager, integrated and precision medicine at NovoPath and NEHODS (the Northern England Haemato-Oncology Diagnostic Service)
