Concordia Opens New Warwick Facility
September 12, 2008 | Print this page | Share This | Email this page
State officials including Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) Executive Director, Saul Kaplan and Slater Technology Fund Managing Senior Managing Director Richard Horan were on hand September 10 to celebrate the opening of Concordia Medical’s new medical manufacturing facility in Warwick.
Concordia will be leasing a 24,575-square-foot facility located at 60 Commerce Drive, Warwick, for medical manufacturing use. The total capital cost for this expansion is approximately $1.6 million, which includes the build out of expanded clean room space and the purchase of new manufacturing and test equipment.
Concordia had recently received a $500,000 loan from RIEDC’s Small Business Loan Fund to assist in its plans to expand its medical manufacturing operations. Additionally, in August 2007 Concordia had closed on a $1.5 million round of venture financing, including $250,000 from the Slater Technology Fund, to support the continuing expansion of the textile maker’s biomedical division (bringing Slater’s total stake in Concordia to $500.000).
“Access to these funds will play an integral role in our company’s expansion efforts into the biomedical space,” stated Randal Spencer, president and CEO, Concordia. “It is extremely important for us to keep our competitive edge, and this expansion will allow us to increase our capacity for research and development along with medical manufacturing to meet the needs of our current and future clients.”
Concordia currently employs 57 people in Rhode Island. The company plans to hire an additional 10–15 people within the next 24 months as a result of these expansion efforts.
“High-wage job growth, and increasing the average wage for all Rhode Islanders continues to be a core focus of the RIEDC,” said Saul Kaplan, executive director, RIEDC. “Providing access to capital for innovative company’s, like Concordia, which are poised for near-term growth is an essential part of our state’s economic growth strategy. Concordia’s transformation into the biomedical arena serves as a national model within the manufacturing industry. This company has embraced innovation and their products in the biomedical space have added value to researchers and distributors of medical devices alike.”
Concordia Medical is an innovator in specialty fiber based medical implants and scaffolds for regenerative medicine. With extensive experience in the development and GMP manufacture of biomedical implants, Concordia Medical has become the preferred partner for academic research and medical device industry leaders to develop and contract manufacture the next generation of medical implants.
Concordia Medical has assembled a solid team that combines specialty fiber engineering skills with extensive medical industry experience, obtained ISO 13485:2003 certification, and achieved FDA QSR compliance for quality systems required for medical device design and manufacturing.
The company recently announced expanded uses of its newest product line, BIOFELT™, a versatile bioresorbable polymer scaffold that can be used in PMA devices for tissue engineering and cell-seeding, as well as 510(k) medical implant applications. BIOFELT facilitates the growth and proliferation of cells and autologous tissues in vitro and in vivo.
