Seda: Winners of Bionow Business Growth Award 2022

Seda are honoured to have been named winners of the Business Growth Award at the prestigious Bionow Awards 2022. This award recognises our outstanding growth, innovation, and contribution to the North of England’s life sciences sector, as well as our commitment to innovation and excellence in the pharmaceutical industry. The award, sponsored by SRG, was presented during a lavish ceremony held beneath the wings of the iconic Concorde in Manchester’s Concorde Conference Centre on 16th March 2023. 

In his acceptance speech Paul Stott, CEO, Seda, commented: “Business growth is a surrogate for the quality of our science, and the service we provide to our clients, and we believe that business growth follows that quality. It’s also very rewarding to see the team grow both in number, and in their individual capabilities, I’m really proud.”

Located in the heart of the North-West, Seda was established in 2015 with the intent to provide value to our clients through the integrated application of Pharmaceutical Development and Clinical Pharmacology expertise. The goal was to provide the level of scientific excellence and development understanding that would be found in a large pharma environment to the biotech sector.  

The team at Seda is passionate about the work they do and the positive impact it has on the lives of patients. With the vision to be a leading provider of pharmaceutical development services, this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team in achieving this goal. 

Seda’s business growth

We initially followed the Lean Start Up Model but the real driver for rapid growth was from the Strategic Intent model that leverages the power of the agility of a smaller company to prosecute new opportunities as they arise. 

Seda’s unique offering was well received by clients, which led to an initial growth period driven by referrals and repeat business. As revenues increased it enabled the team to expand the scope of services through investment in laboratory facilities & equipment and development of proprietary modelling packages. 

Consistent delivery of value to our clients has led to exceptional growth in revenue (averaged at 81% per year) along with the associated profit and headcount growth. The positive cashflow put us in a strong position as we came to a point of needing additional capacity and we were able to purchase a new 10,000 sq ft facility and commit a significant capital investment (£4M) to establish state-of-the-art laboratories and office space. Our facility is a great place to work and allows us to attract and retain the highest caliber of staff. The new HQ has excess capacity and will enable us to further grow and develop the team. However, growth will be pursued at a controlled pace to ensure that scientific quality and reputation is never compromised. 

We believe there is significant potential for further growth. Our unique offering of integrated pharmaceutical development and clinical pharmacology expertise has been demonstrated to facilitate product design and the identification of drug delivery solutions for challenging molecules. We have a global customer base in the biotech community including the Boston region and there is significant potential for the further acquisition of new clients in this area. We would expect our growth to continue on a similar trajectory given our expanded capacity and capabilities. 

Seda look forward to continuing to provide innovative, high-quality pharmaceutical development services to our clients, with a commitment to contributing to the growth and development of the life sciences sector in the North of England and to making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of patients around the world.