A LIFE sciences giant is to create 500 new jobs under plans to establish a global health research, development and manufacturing hub in Scotland.

LumiraDx, which provides coronavirus-related products for healthcare professionals and has bases in the US and London, plans to employ 200 staff at one Scottish site where it has just doubled its Eurocentral footprint.

The company originally leased the ground and first floors of one building at Maxim Park, which is owned by Shelborn Asset Management, last year, and a new lease has now been completed for the remaining two floors, giving it an additional 30,000 sq ft, in one of the largest lettings to have been concluded this year in the Lanarkshire office market.

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The new roles are expected to be key to the UK’s continued response to the Covid-19 pandemic through improved diagnosis and testing for the virus while vaccinations are rolled out nationwide. The firm said there would be a £78 million investment at a number of Scottish sites.

The Herald: The Maxim Park site.The Maxim Park site.

Peter Welch, LumiraDx vice president, business development, said: “The last year has been an incredible time of growth for LumiraDx as we both scale-up the manufacturing of our point of care testing platform and continue to develop other transformational POC tests.

"To keep up with these market demands, it became critical for us to find additional space to devote for our growing R&D teams. We chose Maxim Park for its strong infrastructure and location with access to exceptional talent and look forward to growing the area’s life sciences industry.”