• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Tuesday May 19 2020

Medical device manufacturer secures £1.45 million finance package to assist NHS with Covid-19 testing

A manufacturer of medical devices has secured a £1.45 million finance package from Barclays to assist the NHS with Covid-19 testing.

Established in 1952 by founder Stanley Broggio, Medical Wire & Equipment Ltd – based at Leafield Industrial Estate, Corsham – is acknowledged as the market leader in their field in the production of transport swabs and general laboratory consumables.

In 1975, the ground breaking innovation of its Transwab revolutionised the industry; an innovation which is still heralded as the industry standard across the globe.

Today, MWE produces in excess of 100 million medical devices per annum servicing customers across a domestic and global market.

The Transwab range remains as the market-leading product of choice and the firm has established an extensive portfolio of products and clients.

The new funding will support the firm with the purchase of specialised machinery to increase its production of virus transport swabs in addition to boosting the firm’s working capital and foreign exchange capabilities.

In addition, the company anticipates recruiting 30 new staff to its existing team of 90 employees to help meet the unprecedented level of demand for its products.

Andrew Broggio, CEO of MWE, said: “Without Barclays’ help, we would not have been able to scale up production of our virus transport products to assist in the fight against Covid-19.

“The partnership with Barclays has put us on track to increase production eight-fold by September and repatriate manufacturing capability, therefore developing resilience in the UK medical device sector.”

John Squier, Barclays relationship director, Bath, added: “MWE is an impressive firm with leading medical technology that is currently in high demand both domestically and internationally.

“I’m proud that Barclays has been able to support a local manufacturer with the necessary funding to accelerate their production of their vital testing equipment to support the NHS at what is a very challenging time for us all.”