A local testing manufacturer located in Thorold is stepping up with financial support from the Ontario government to produce more PCR tests for COVID-19.
The Ontario government is supporting a more than $13 million investment by Thorold-based Norgen Biotek to scale up production of its COVID-19 saliva-based test kit, with $1 million in support through the Ontario Together Fund.
Located at 3420 Schmon Parkway, Norgen is investing in its Thorold facilities to support upgrades, modifications and equipment and production materials. The project will scale up production of COVID-19 saliva-based diagnostic kits, including the component saliva collection and preservative devices, ribonucleic acid (RNA) isolation/purification kits, and viral detection kits. Forecasted production capacity upon project completion is 100,000 diagnostic kits per day. This investment is expected to create 105 jobs.
Supporting innovative projects like Norgen’s are why Ontario has invested an additional $50 million in the renewed Ontario Together Fund in 2021–22. The fund will continue to support local innovators and businesses to further enhance Ontario’s domestic supply chain capacity, promote Ontario’s MedTech ecosystem and build up our manufacturing sector to ensure the province is well-prepared for future challenges.
“Through the Ontario Together Fund, our government is making laser-focused investments in domestic businesses with the ideas and solutions to help us through this pandemic and put us on the road to economic recovery. Norgen Biotek and their COVID-19 saliva-based test kit is another example of Ontario innovation at its very best as homegrown manufacturers continue to enhance our resilience to any challenge while strengthening our economy.”
Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
Established in 1998, Norgen Biotek is a biotechnology company focused on developing products for sample collection, sample preparation and sample detection, as well as providing comprehensive research services to the scientific community at its 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility.
“I want to thank the Ontario government under the leadership of Doug Ford and Minister Fedeli for coming up with the Ontario Together Fund. It is very timely, indeed. This program has, without a doubt, helped Norgen Biotek and many other Ontario companies overcome the challenges faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This program encouraged Norgen to undertake a broad facility expansion, a scaling up of operations, and creating new jobs to meet the demand for Norgen’s products during the pandemic.”
Yousef Haj-Ahmad, President and CEO of Norgen Biotek.