The life sciences chief who has become a Covid water detective

Gerry Brandon is about to take his first break from work in months.

The Irish chief executive of York-based Integumen intends to spend a week travelling around Poland, where he lives with his Polish wife, visiting castles and palaces.

“It’s been an incredibly busy time for the business”, he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing this country’s phenomenally beautiful architecture and artwork.”

The much-needed break is understandable. Integumen is a rapidly-expanding business and Brandon has also spent the last few months expanding the company into a new sector.

The core LabSkin business uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology for testing cosmetics and skincare products. Now Brandon has tweaked the technology to test waste water for coronavirus, setting the company down an exciting new path.

Last week, the listed company announced plans to change its name to DeepVerge to reflect an expanded focus beyond skin.

The move comes just weeks after Integumen signed an agreement to acquire water monitoring firm Modern Water through an all-share takeover worth £21.2m.

The two companies have been working together since March when Integumen provided its AI technology to produce test kits for Modern Water, which detects contaminants in water.

Integumen collaborated with Wetherby-based Avacta and York-based Aptamer group as part of the process.

Demand has soared amid the pandemic as public bodies and private companies have been looking to analyse possible coronavirus contamination in wastewater outlets from residential, hospital and other sewage outflows.

Integumen acquired the technology with its £3m acquisition of artificial intelligence software company RinoCloud last year.

It made the deal to enable its LabSkin business to create virtual online skin testing facilities for major corporates.

However, RinoCloud also had technology that could identify E.coli instantly in the water. Integumen tweaked it to allow it to identify the coronavirus in waste water within just four seconds.
“The acquisition completely transformed the business,” says Brandon.

He predicts substantial new opportunities arising through combining Integumen and Modern Water.

Modern Water, which has offices and laboratories in the US and China, has over 3,000 installed units all over the world giving it a large footprint to retrofit the technology.

“The ability to detect the virus in such a short space of time has allowed us to add greater value to the technology that already exists inside of Modern Water,” says Brandon. “Every other test capability at the moment involves taking a sample and bringing it back to the laboratory to run a test.”

The acquisition will mean closing down Modern Water’s laboratory in Cambridge, which employs 14 people, and moving the chemical engineering roles up to York.

Looking ahead to next year, Brandon is keen to make an even larger acquisition to bolster its distribution channels.

Although the coronavirus detection technology is making the headlines at the moment, it’s still a tiny part of Integumen’s business and isn’t expected to contribute to revenues until 2021.

LabSkin - laboratory-grown skin that is then used by cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies to test how their products react to human skin - remains the core business.

It recently rolled out a new test designed to clone the skin of volunteers after clinical trials were put in jeopardy due to social distancing and shielding.

Skincare and pharmaceutical products remain big business and have required testing throughout the pandemic.

In addition, a number of companies are keen for the firm to test products such as mouthwash against coronavirus so they can stamp a new claim on the bottle. Integumen has a laboratory in Aberdeen where products can be tested with the actual virus to see what affect it has.

Brandon has completely transformed Integumen since taking over in August 2018. When he took charge, LabSkin, originally a Leeds University spinout, had had £15m of investment pumped into it over the years but only made £50,000 in sales for the first eight months of that year.

“It was in the worst possible state because nobody else wanted it and nobody could turn it around. I said ‘I’ll give it a shot, I think I can do it, and we set out to fix it,’ he says.

Brandon, a business turnaround specialist, realised the company was underselling itself by selling its test kits for just £1,500. He set about changing the business model and in the last four months of the year achieved sales of £280,000. This year turnover is expected to be £4m.

He has a five-year plan to grow Integumen before selling it on. His previous public company, Alltracel Pharmaceuticals, sold for $55m in 2008. He expects to make substantially more from Integumen.

Brandon, the father of four grown up children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild, describes himself as a ‘nutty professor’ - able to pour over information to an ‘extreme level’ to be able to hold his own with a group of PHD students on a given topic. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you where I left my glasses but I can tell you that you’ll find the information you’re looking for on page 44 paragraph seven of a certain document,” he says. “My wife thinks I’m nuts most of the time. I’ll go upstairs for a cup of tea and come back down with a fork.”

After he sells Integumen, the 58-year-old says he’ll be finished with leading and scaling big businesses.

“I don’t intend to do another big one after this,” he says. “I’ve done enough. After this I’m looking at moving into a supporting role. This is a 24/7 seven-day-a-week job. I’ve been doing it for over 30 years now and I think I’d just like to slow down a little.”

Curriculum Vitae

Title: Chief executive of Integumen

Date of birth: 10th November 1961

Education: Engineering degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology

First job: Assisting my father as a plumber. That was my first engineering job.

Favourite song: Adagio for strings, by Tiesto

Favourite holiday destination: I’ve spent most of my career in airports so I’d have to say home. Travelling in a car around where I live.

Favourite film: I love all Star Wars films so I’d have to choose one of those on a Saturday afternoon if I didn’t have anything else to do.

Last book read: Superman’s Not Coming, by Erin Brockovich

Most proud of: My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren

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James Mitchinson