Biological materials maker expands at Sirti

Biopol Laboratory Inc., a leading manufacturer of biological materials used to diagnose and treat allergies, is expanding into the Sirti Technology Center, located in Spokane’s University District, said Biopol’s General Manager Brian Jones.

The company grows and collects raw materials – like microscopic dust mites and cat hair—used to help physicians detect and treat patients’ allergies, Jones said.

Biopol is leasing 5,300-square-feet of laboratory and office space and could be ready in early April to begin production, said Linda Hemingway, Sirti’s director of market development. The company signed a two-year lease with two, one-year renewal options.

Eight employees will be based at Sirti, six of which will be new hires, Jones said. About half will be laboratory technicians and the other half engineers, some chemical and some mechanical.

“We have to recruit locally and nationally” to fill the positions, Jones said.

The new operation will bring the total number of Spokane facilities in which Biopol operates to four. The company also operates a 600-acre farm in Plummer, Idaho, to grow grasses and plants necessary in allergy detection and management.

Biopol is gearing up for additional allergen production to meet anticipated demand by its parent-company, ALK-Abelló Group of Denmark, which is introducing a new tablet-based immunotherapy treatment.