Little Rock based Vivione Bioscience, LLC, a manufacturer of new ultra high performance RAPID-B diagnostic system, in a press conference yesterday, officially announced its move to its new home, in some laboratory space at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.
In a collaboration between VB and the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) and the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in Jefferson, they will test bacteria in key environments with a mission to revolutionize the clinical and medical fields, food and industrial safety, water safety and bio-defense by utilizing one compact universal platform for all diagnostic testing that can be used for bacteria, viruses and toxins. The new technology rapidly addresses methods for current unmet diagnostic needs as well as taking the place of outdated culture-based, immunology-based and molecular-based methods that take countless hours. It also provides more accurate results in only minutes to a few hours.
“The Alliance was first contracted by a Vivione representative in March 2011 concerning available lab space in Jefferson County, said Lou Ann Nisbett, Alliance President and CEO. There are some top-notch facilities here, and we certainly wanted to match those up with a biotechnology company like this that is poised to revolutionize food safety testing.” “We cannot envision a better company to be the first recipient of the Jefferson County Sales Tax incentive.
When we started that effort many years ago this is exactly they type of company we had in mind and hope to attract and we hope for a lot of good things here.” Mike Holcomb. We’re excited to welcome this biotechnology company to Jefferson County and proud to know that our community was selected as the right fit. It’s also gratifying to see our combined economic development efforts paying off, said George Makris, chairman of the EDCJC. We look forward to working with Vivione as it continues to grow and add new, knowledge based jobs and with other companies that might benefit from a location in close proximity to Vivione’s lab.”