A trailblazing Runcorn tech company helping fight the war against cancer played host to a special visitor all the way from Japan recently.

Epredia on Tudor Road makes specialist digital diagnostics equipment for laboratories right around the world, including the NHS.

It recently became the only manufacturer in the UK to produce a high-capacity scanner that can make digital images of more than 1,000 tissue samples a day. The tech allows labs to view samples more efficiently and potentially make faster and more accurate cancer diagnoses.

Epredia was established in 2019 through an acquisition by parent company PHC Group from Thermo Fisher Scientific. It recently played host to the global CEO of PHC Group who made the trip all the way from Tokyo for the first time since becoming CEO last month.

Kay Deguchi is the firm’s first female CEO and is a ‘strong advocate’ for the difference that is being made in Runcorn to improve cancer diagnostics in the UK and around the world.

She said: “Visiting the Epredia Runcorn facility it is clear why we say Epredia is at the heart of successful pathology labs.

“As cancer diagnostics becomes more complex, the Runcorn facility is serving as a critical global hub for digital pathology, providing laboratories with the tools to make potentially faster and more accurate diagnosis. I look forward to our team bringing this technology to more laboratories here in the UK and globally.”

The Runcorn site's roots date back to 1937 and it currently employs around 250 people. Today, the company says 44 of its products are used every second around the world in the fight against cancer.

Parent firm PHC Group was founded in Japan as Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics in 1969. It started out in consumer electronics and evolved into healthcare products and services.