Thomas Taylor, standing, with members of the Foxx Life Sciences management team. (Photo by Christine Carignan)
For 10 of the past 15 years, Foxx Life Sciences has grown sales by 40% or more annually and expanded its global markets by opening facilities in India in addition to its NH facilities in Londonderry and Salem.
COVID spurred demand and the company grew 64.5% in 2021 alone. Foxx was selected to provide 1 million COVID test kits to NH’s public colleges and universities. And between 2019 and 2021, Foxx tripled the number of products it manufactures to more than 5,000.
However, the biotech industry has hit an economic lull during the past couple of years that even this family-business could not overcome. While sales remained flat in 2023 and 2024, Foxx Life Sciences, which produces lab equipment and single-use technology (SUT) for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, has been using that time to prepare for future growth by investing in its leadership team and developing new products.
Thomas Taylor, CEO, says economic indicators are pointing to a boom in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in 2025 and 2026. “We’re trying to build the best team we can,” Taylor says, noting Foxx recently hired a vice president of R&D who worked at Millipore for 30 years and two vice presidents for its sales divisions (joining his wife, Alice Molteni Taylor, who is a vice president of bioprocess sales for North America and Europe). In July, Foxx brought on a new president, Rick Schwartz, who has held seven vice president roles across three companies, including VWR, part of Avantor, and DWK Life Sciences.
“The company is getting bigger than me and to continue to grow and scale the company we need additional resources for that,” says Taylor, who saw competitors acquired by private equity firms and large corporations over the last few years. He says he regularly receives acquisition offers and has turned down “substantial money,” as he is committed to growing his company. “We’re the last global, family owned SUT pharmaceutical manufacturer. Everyone else has been sold,” he says. “We’re just stubborn. It’s part of our mission—us against the big guys.”
Taylor started Foxx Life Sciences 15 years ago from his home in Windham. He proudly points out the company is now headquartered in a 100,000-square-foot facility in Londonderry and that 90% of its products are still made in the United States.
Taylor chose India for Foxx’s global expansion as it is a growing democracy with a young, educated workforce. “India is taking off,” he says. India has been a gateway into other Asian countries and has been such a successful market that Foxx is opening its second plant there. About 20% of Foxx’s business is in overseas markets and Taylor says he wants to see it closer to 40%.
Taylor says Foxx’s competitive advantage is due to it being fully integrated to include design, molding/production and sales. EZBio is the company’s most popular line as it standardizes single-use products, allowing Foxx to ship products in 24 hours. “When a customer comes to us, we listen to them and we can move fast,” Molteni Taylor says. “Our decision making is much faster.”
Foxx has focused on creating a culture that attracts and retains younger talent that it can cultivate, including offering a robust internship program. In the next three years Taylor expects to introduce an Employee Stock Ownership Program and donate shares to employees. “That will be exciting,” he says.
Current Issue - September 2024