A ground-breaking Newtown company has been sold for the second time in its history – as its pioneering founder celebrates half a century creating cancer diagnosing products.

Local entrepreneur Peter Webber, 86, is celebrating 50 years after founding cytology and histology products specialist CellPath back in 1972.

The company has mostly been run in that time by Peter and his sons Paul and Philip who have since led the successful expansion of the company, which is established as a market leader in Europe and has a workforce of 106.

The company in that time became a multi award winning success before being recently sold to StatLab Medical Products from Texas, which has they feel has strengthened the company’s global market position.

Mike Karsonovich, CEO of StatLab said of the takeover: “We have long respected CellPath for their well-earned reputation of delivering innovative products that solve problems for labs, and are proud to welcome them to the StatLab family of brands.”

It’s the second time the company has been sold, the first sale was in 1999 to Medical Solutions plc but the Webber family bought the business back in 2002 to develop CellNass, the national cellular pathology secure sample archive facility.

Peter is very proud of the medical achievements of the company in that time: “I am proud to have made a significant contribution to pathology for more than 50 years by introducing a series of innovations

“I have constantly tried to introduce products to improve cancer diagnostics.

“In general, I think there is always a better way to do things and CellPath continues to come up with ideas to make further improvements in cancer diagnostics.”

Starting as a chartered engineer, Peter worked for several scientific instrument companies before, in 1966, setting up a joint venture called Disc Instruments with a US company.

He sold his Disc Instruments equity in 1970 and has worked for himself ever since. Now in his 80s, his entrepreneurial flair is still going strong, as he constantly looks to bring new ideas to market however peter feels his sons were a big part for CellPath’s achievements: “We have been one big, happy family at CellPath which has been integral to the company’s success. My sons deserve great credit for driving the company forward.”

When looking back on his career Peter is quite content. He said: “I have few regrets,

“I have grabbed every opportunity and investigated it. Doors open for a certain reason and I have always looked inside. That has been my life.