Moredun Scientific Ltd

Moredun Scientific Ltd

Helping to increase global competitiveness

Juan Escala is Managing Director of Moredun Scientific, the commercial arm of the Moredun Group of companies, based in Penicuik, near Edinburgh. His company provides contract research services to the animal health industry and bio-safety testing to the wider bio-pharmaceutical sector.

In 2008, Juan took part in the first phase of Scottish Enterprise’s innovative International Sales & Marketing Programme. This exciting initiative is designed to improve the sales and marketing capabilities of ambitious Scottish companies, providing them with valuable opportunities through experience, learning and business networking with some of the world’s key business players.

The central component of the Programme is a short internship with a relevant international company. This depends on the active participation and support of a GlobalScot holding a senior position in this company. In Juan’s case, the GlobalScot was Mark Bamforth, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Operations at Genzyme Corporation, one of the world’s foremost bio-technology companies. In May 2008, Juan took up a two-week placement with Genzyme in the US

"Genzyme came top of my list. I knew it would give me the opportunity to learn more about good pharmaceutical manufacturing practice without any conflict of interest."

He found the experience extremely useful. The programme was totally tailored to his needs, based on the background information he had provided in advance about his own company and his future plans. He spent the first week in the company’s Pharmaceuticals division, focusing on contract drug manufacturing. In the second week he covered a number of corporate operations, ranging from purchasing, quality and warehousing to subcontractor management and general manufacture. He was based at Cambridge, Massachusetts and also visited the company’s Framingham operation.

Juan admits that the success of his visit was due almost entirely to Mark Bamforth’s personal involvement.

"Having a senior GlobalScot there fully committed to the project really opened all the doors. That was why I could see a broad spectrum of people at Genzyme. Everyone was, without exception, extremely helpful. It was an intense but immensely rewarding experience."