HISTORY

Clarity BioSolutions Ltd was formed by Dr David West in February 2007 as Drypharm Ltd which focused on pharmaceutical process development through freeze-drying and was repurposed in 2009 with the arrival of Hugh Ballantine Dykes to focus on the research and development of early-stage diagnostic technologies.

Clarity BioSolutions Ltd is located at Porton Science Park (PSP) on the Porton Down Science Campus – site of the UK Ministry of Defence’s research facility, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) – where the company maintains strong links with Dstl and other spin-out companies.


PEOPLE

Hugh Ballantine Dykes, Clarity’s Chief Executive Officer

A graduate from Durham University and with an MBA from the Open University, Mr Ballantine Dykes spent eleven years with Vickers Plc’s Medical Division, developing international markets for medical intensive care devices.

Following a period of six years running an international healthcare marketing consultancy, Hugh joined Dstl (formerly DERA) in 1999 to identify technologies developed for military use, raise investment funding and exploit them for civilian diagnostic and biotech applications.

Hugh was instrumental in launching several spin-out companies including Acolyte Biomedica (MRSA detection) and Alaska Food Diagnostics (food pathogen detection), until 2003 when he joined Alaska as full time Operations Director.


Dr David West
, Clarity’s Chief Scientific Officer

A graduate from the University of Birmingham with a PhD in Microbial Genetics, Dr West went on to lead a project at CAMR (previously part of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at Porton Down) for the development of vaccines for meningococcal meningitis.

Dave has been involved in commercial R&D and supply of services to the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries for over 20 years, and has been instrumental in developing research, patenting and exploitation strategies, and in bringing in the funding to support them.


Chris Danks
has over twenty years of experience developing and commercialising lateral flow diagnostic kits, and the original applications were all based around plant health. Former CTO of Abingdon Health Group, Chris developed the “Pocket Diagnostics” concept for plant disease diagnosis.

Chris has been recognised as an expert in the field of plant health on-site diagnostics, with numerous related patents, publications, keynote presentations and has organised international workshops, and is the recipient of various personal and professional awards.