Saving the lives of neonates – babies aged between one and four weeks old – is a major focus of INOTherapeutics, based at Kent Science Park, near Sittingbourne.

The company manufactures, distributes and sells INOmaxTM, a specialist selective vasodilator drug designed for the treatment of small babies with severe breathing disorders, which is also used on patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery and treatment. The company, set up in the United States in 1976, secured a Europe-wide licence for INOmaxTM as a prescription drug in 2001.

The UK operation was established by Mr Rothery in 2003 after he relocated the business from Paris. INOTherapeutics UK employs 10 people, including four Pharmaceutical Account and Medical Managers working in the field. The remaining six employees are based at Kent Science Park and all live in Swale or Medway.

Peter Rothery, INOTherapeutics’ UK General Manager, said: “Kent Science Park met all our needs and the strict requirements of the European medicine licensing agency EMEA in terms of security and storage. It has been easy to expand on site and we now operate from 5,000ft2 of business space. In my opinion the facilities are exemplary for companies like ourselves.”

As well as distributing INOmaxTM to the NHS throughout the UK and Ireland, the company supplies associated products to hospitals throughout Europe, and supports clinical trials of its drug with many major hospitals across the whole EEC.

INOTherapeutics’ parent company, Linde, is a world-leading industrial gases, medical gases and engineering company with some 50,000 employees working in more than 70 countries. Following the acquisition of The BOC Group plc, Linde has gases and engineering sales of around €12 billion per annum.