Eurofins Scientific SE is a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
group of
laboratories
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...
headquartered in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, providing testing and support services to the
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
,
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
,
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
,
agriscience
Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...
and
consumer products industries
[Le réseau, botte secrète d'Eurofins]
L'Usine nouvelle
''L'Usine nouvelle'' is a weekly French business magazine that covers business and technology. It is based in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine near Paris.
History
This trade magazine appeared for the first time on 5 December 1891 in Charleville in the Ar ...
n° 2965, 26 May 2005 and to governments.
Eurofins Group has an international network of more than 900 laboratories across 50 countries and a portfolio of over 200,000 validated analytical methods for characterising the safety, identity, purity, composition, authenticity and origin of products and
biological substances. Eurofins also provides clinical diagnostic testing services and in-vitro diagnostic products. Through research and development, in-licensing and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
and
analytical sciences.
History
Eurofins Scientific was founded in 1987 with 4 employees, when Gilles Martin purchased the rights to the
SNIF-NMR technology from the
University of Nantes
The University of Nantes (french: Université de Nantes) is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire a ...
, a patented analytical method used to verify the origin and purity of several types of food and beverages and identify sophisticated fraud not detectable by other methods. Eurofins derived the "fins" of its name from the French version of SNIF-NMR: Fractionnement Isotopique Naturel Spécifique par Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire or FINS-RMN. During this start up period (1987 to 1997), the SNIF-NMR® patent was registered and approved in the US and broadened to apply to a wider range of products than the original wine test, such as fruit juices and other non-alcoholic beverages. The strategy was then formulated to develop the offering in-house and to expand the range of tests provided to customers.
[Funding Universe. Eurofins Scientific S.A. History. Fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.]
From 1997, the focus for Eurofins was to buy the very best labs with unique technologies and knowhow with the potential for global recognition. As the company's revenues reached €7m, Eurofins’ IPO on the Paris Stock Exchange helped fund the company's rapid geographic expansion. The Group expanded to eight new countries and grew to include over 50 laboratory sites. Leading positions were built up in core markets (Food, Pharma and Environment) and also key segments such as genomic information and contaminants testing.
In 2001, Eurofins TAG was developed in response to the mad cow disease (BSE) crisis, allowing, for the very first time, genetic fingerprints to be used to confirm that each package of meat in a supermarket originated from an animal that had been tested free of BSE.
From 2002, Eurofins started developing its infrastructure. It structured its laboratories as independent, entrepreneur-led companies, which grew to lead the industry globally in R&D, testing, nurturing scientific talent, and funding research.
Having established the building blocks to support the growth of the Group, focus turned to starting up and expanding operations in new markets and geographies, including China, Sweden, Norway and Ireland, between 2005 - 2008.
Eurofins was the very first international laboratory group to offer bird flu virus (H5N1) testing in food in 2005. Later developments included the Animal ID DNA Test – quickly developed and launched by Eurofins in the wake of the horsemeat crisis in 2013, making Eurofins the first company able to verify at high throughput the absence of undeclared horsemeat in a wide range of food products.
In 2012, the Group celebrated 25 years since its IPO and this milestone coincided with achieving its ambition of becoming a billion-euro annual revenue business. In the same year, Eurofins became the global market leader in discovery pharmacology, a global leader in the Japanese genomics testing market, and in the food testing market in Brazil.
In 2013, Eurofins became the second largest food testing service provider in the U.S.A. The Group entered the specialty clinical diagnostics market for the first time in July 2014 with the acquisition of ViraCor-IBT, one of the largest independent laboratories servicing the specialty diagnostic market segment and the leader in testing to support organ transplant programmes.
Eurofins completed c. 60 acquisitions in 2017 and c. 50 acquisitions in 2018. This growth enabled Eurofins to become a EUR 4bn company. At the same time, Eurofins became the market leader in food and environment testing in North America.
In September 2021, Eurofins announced that Eurofins Scientific would be included in the CAC 40 Index; the Group's market capitalisation stood at more than €23.5 billion. Based in September 2021 share prices this would put Eurofins in the 29th position in the CAC 40 index ranked by market capitalisation.
Recent news
On 1 July 2014, Eurofins purchased
Viracor-IBT Laboratories
Viracor Eurofins Laboratories is a diagnostic laboratory specializing in infectious disease, immunology and allergy testing for immunocompromised and critical patients. Viracor Eurofins works with medical professionals, transplant teams, reference ...
from Ampersand Capital Partners for $255 million. The company will continue to be known as ViraCor-IBT.
In May 2015, Eurofins acquired QC Laboratories in the
US and Experchems in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
as part of its North American expansion strategy.
In June 2015, Eurofins announced the acquisition of Biomnis in France for 220 million euros. In September 2017, Eurofins Scientific announced to acquire EAG Laboratories (Evans Analytical Group), a scientific services company that serves technology and life-science-related industries. On 5 March 2018, the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...
announced to collect a $600,000 penalty from Eurofins QC, LLC (Eurofins QC in
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania) for falsifying whole effluent toxicity test (WETT) results.
Eurofins purchased Nanolab Technologies Inc, a service lab for the silicon valley industry, on 2 August 2018.
Eurofins acquired MET Labs on 11 January 2018, which enabled them to have a Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory as established by OHSA. At the end of 2018, a deal was finalized between Eurofins and the JSTI Group for the acquisition of TestAmerica Environmental Services, LLC, adding 24 laboratories and 40 service centers to the Eurofins environmental testing network.
On 3 June 2019, Eurofins reported that some of its IT systems were infected with
ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid off. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, ...
and many servers and systems were taken offline. Eurofins paid the ransom after heavy disruption of their services. Court hearings were postponed as the forensics division was unable to take new samples.
In 2020, Eurofins created the capacity to help over 20 million patients monthly who may have been impacted by
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
with testing products and services and supporting healthcare professionals working on the front line. Eurofins established
PCR testing capabilities and has carried out over 25 million tests in its own laboratories, is supporting the development of a number of vaccines and has established its SAFER@WORK™ testing, monitoring and consulting programmes.
Eurofins acquired Japanese genetics analysis company GeneTech, a leader in the specialist field of non-invasive pre-natal testing in August 2020.
In September 2020, Eurofins announced the acquisition of SunDream Group in Taiwan, which specialises in environmental analyses. The acquisition allowed Eurofins to become the leading player in the environmental analyst market in the country.
In February 2021, Eurofins acquired Beacon Discovery, a California-based company specialising in drug research. The group focuses on “G protein coupled receptors,” a major class of proteins in human cells, on which many molecules can act.
Eurofins announced the acquisition of the American DNA Diagnostics Centers (DDC), a group specializing in genetic testing, in June 2021.
Product authentication
The company has developed an exclusive method of food analysis, testing and authentication that has thwarted the
counterfeit
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
ing of food goods, and also cigars.
[Eurofins trace son chemin en traquant les tricheurs]
L'Usine nouvelle n° 2713, 9 December 1999 The company's testing can also detect
food contaminants.
See also
*
Assay
An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...
* Site-Specific Natural
Isotope Fractionation
Isotope fractionation describes fractionation processes that affect the relative abundance of isotopes, phenomena which are taken advantage of in isotope geochemistry and other fields. Normally, the focus is on stable isotopes of the same element. ...
-
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SNIF-NMR) used by Eurofins for the analysis of wines and other alcoholic beverages
References
External links
Official websiteShort History of Eurofins Scientific
{{Authority control
Biotechnology companies established in 1987
Biotechnology companies of France
Companies based in Luxembourg City
Companies listed on Euronext Paris
CAC 40
French companies established in 1987
1997 initial public offerings