A SUNDERLAND biotech company is sticking to what it does best after doubling its order book for paternity testing to well over 1,000 cases in the past 12 months.

Complement Genomics, which provides the award-winning dadcheck tests, went live with a drugs and alcohol testing service in May last year but chief executive Louise Allcroft quickly wound down that side of the business when she realised the market was too competitive.

However, the firm has been experiencing an increased demand for its paternity and relationship testing service from not only members of the public, but also from solicitors and social services.

Allcroft said: “We stopped the drugs and alcohol testing service because there were too many players in the market. We’re concentrating on the DNA testing side of the business because, as the saying goes, stick to the knitting and focus on what you do best.

“We’re still the only accredited DNA testing lab in the North East and we’re the only company up here accredited by the Ministry of Justice. Because of our highly regarded position we’re getting through a lot of work and we’ve seen our workload double in the last year.

“People divorce for a variety of reasons. Parentage is one of them but more than 90% of cases we do are quite literally who’s the daddy?

“Once over we would have dealt with 80% members of the public and 20% legal professionals such as solicitors and local authorities, but those figures have flipped the other way round.”