Our History

Scroll down to view the Q1 Scientific journey from our inception in 2012 to today’s award-winning ISO certified stability storage company

2012
Q1 Scientific Stability Storage

Q1 Scientific Established

Q1 Scientific is established in Waterford by serial entrepreneur Louise Grubb with a 5,000sqft facility. Q1 Scientific was the first company in Ireland to specialise in the provision of a stability storage and sample management service

2013

Official Opening

Official Opening by Minister John Perry with the creation of 10 new jobs for the South East. Pictured with Minister John Perry is Tom Brennan, Patsy Carney and Q1 Scientific founder Louise Grubb.

2013

GMP Certification

Successful GMP Certification following a HPRA audit

2013

Our first award

‘Best New Start Company’ at the Munster region final of the InterTrade All Ireland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition

2014

Ulster Bank Achievers Award

Ulster Bank Achievers Award

2014

Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence Finalist in the Start-up Company of the Year at the Pharma Industry Awards

2014

David Manley Award

Business finalists in the David Manley Awards

2015

GMP Certification renews

Successful GMP Certification following a HPRA audit

2015
Pharma Industry Awards Startup company of the year

Pharma Start-up Company of the Year

Winner of Pharma Start-up Company of the Year at the Pharma Industry awards

2016
Louise Grubb, CEO, Q1 Scientific

EY Entrepreneur of the Year

Founder Louise Grubb is shortlisted for EY ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’

2017

Expansion

The first unit was filled, and an adjoining unit was taken over increasing the operations size by another 5,000sqft

2017

Sample tracking system goes live

Our bespoke Electronic Sample Tracking System (ESTS) goes live

2018

Successful HPRA audit

Successful HPRA audit for the storage of controlled drugs and active substances (in 2018 the HPRA officially announced they would not be continuing to audit storage facilities).

2018

Pharma Industry Awards

Finalist for ‘Pharma Supplier of the Year’ and ‘Pharma Contract Service Company of the Year’ at the Pharma Industry Awards.

2019

Expansion

Another unit acquired, taking the total footprint to 15,000sqft.

2019
Pharma industry awards logo

Finalist at Pharma Industry Awards

Finalist for ‘Pharma Company of the Year – SME’, ‘Pharma Contract Services Company of the Year’ and ‘Pharma Supplier of the Year’ at the Pharma Industry Awards

2020
Q1 Scientific shortlisted for two pharma industry awards

Winner at Pharma Industry Awards

Winner of ‘Contract Services Company of the Year’ and shortlisted for ‘Pharma Company of the Year SME’ at the Pharma Industry Awards

2020
WBA-finalist-logo 2020

Waterford Chamber Business Awards

Shortlisted for ‘Business of the Year’ at the Waterford Chamber Business Awards

2020

Expansion

Completed the company’s third and fourth expansions taking the facility to 20,000 square feet of pharmaceutical storage with over 7000 storage spaces

2020
Science of Business Logo

The Science of Business podcast

The ‘Science of Business’ podcast series launched. This podcast series shares the insights, career journeys, the start-up phase and behind the scenes stories from one of Ireland’s most successful business sectors

2020

Q1 Scientific webinar series

Launched the Q1 Scientific webinar series designed for those working in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors with responsibility for designing and managing stability studies

2021

Pharma Industry Awards

Shortlisted for ‘Contract Services Company of the Year’ at the Pharma Industry Awards

2022
WBA winner stamp

Winner of Waterford Business Award

Q1 Scientific wins ‘Business of the Year’ and founder Louise Grubb is awarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Waterford Chamber Business Awards

2022
Q1 Scientific achieves ISO9001 certification

ISO 9001 certification

Q1 Scientific gains ISO 9001 certification

2022

Acquired by Cambrex

Cambrex, a leading global contract development and manufacturing organisation providing drug substance, drug product, and analytical services across the entire drug life cycle, announced the acquisition of Q1 Scientific on 1st June 2022.

2023

Q1 Scientific opens a new facility in Belgium

Q1 Scientific opened a new 20,000 sq ft cGMP facility in Belgium, expanding its capacity for environmentally-controlled stability storage services to the pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences industries across Europe.

2024

Q1 Scientific opens new facility in Durham, North Carolina

Q1 Scientific opened a new cGMP facility in Durham, North Carolina, expanding our capacity for environmentally controlled stability storage services to the pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences industries in North America.