Deseret Laboratories, Inc

A Community Thriving Within Our Community

The people of southern Utah and Utah in general have long had histories of thriving amidst difficult situations. This is especially true for its early Native-American inhabitants, whose literal existence depended upon their ability to adapt to nature’s changes and to carve out an existence by drawing life and wisdom from nature, and for the early pioneer settlers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who overcame privation, droughts, floods, harsh winters, cricket infestations, prejudice, bigotry, and government persecution to eventually thrive in the wilderness that they called home. They accomplished this unprecedented task by working tirelessly together with a strong spirit of industry and community.

In recognition of this spirit, these early settlers adopted the beehive to symbolize the cooperative effort and hard work that would eventually make the desert bloom. To this symbol, they attached the name Deseret (honeybee).

Heritage. In 1986, two of St. George’s native sons, Scott and Mark Gubler, adopted the name of Deseret for their fledgling company, which they named Deseret Laboratories, Inc. They hoped to engender the pioneer spirit of industry and community within their organization as it adapted to the changes and opportunities that lay ahead of it in the blossoming life science industry of Utah.

Since its early beginnings of mining and processing pharmaceutical grade gypsum for use as a filler in pharmaceutical products, Deseret Laboratories has endeavored to build a company family of like-minded individuals into a team that shares the same values of hard work, industry, and community support that will ensure the continuation of those values in the years to come.

Key Personnel. Deseret Labs has been fortunate to build a talented management team possessing vast and diverse experience, with many key personnel having strong southern Utah roots. Many of these key personnel spent years gaining valuable experience outside of St. George before returning home to southern Utah to ply their knowledge. These key management positions include a Juris Doctorate, MBAs, PhDs, chemists, microbiologists, mechanical engineers, quality managers, plant managers, mechanics, fabricators, supply chain managers, inventory control managers, accountants, HR professionals, marketing executives, production supervisors, and logistics specialists. Together these talented individuals keep the company moving forward and growing. When you add to this team the many highly trained operators, line workers, and support personnel that skillfully manufacture each product, a truly extraordinary community exists. Growth. Strengthened by these skilled associates, Deseret Laboratories has grown from a two-man operation to one of the largest contract manufacturers of dietary supplements and pharmaceutical products in the Western United States, employing nearly 200 southern Utah residents.

Building upon a foundation that utilizes its own patented “Gublair” granulation equipment and technology, Deseret Labs provides fluid-bed, high-shear, and Wurster agglomeration of powders for use in tablets, capsules, stick packs, or drink mixes in both the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Over the years, Deseret Lab’s custom contract manufacturing and research services have also expanded to include blending, tableting, coating, encapsulation, bottling, packeting, effervescents, and stick packing. A parallel expansion has taken Deseret Labs in the direction of supplying pharmaceuticals and COVID diagnostic testing supplies and equipment to the United States, the Middle East, and Asia.

Markets. Over 85 percent of the products that Deseret Laboratories manufacturers are exported to markets outside of the United States and can be found in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the Middle East, Israel, Europe, the UK, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and many other countries.

In August 2021, Forbes magazine ranked Utah as number one in the nation for GDP growth, despite the pandemic. Utah’s GDP has grown an astounding 19.1 percent over the last five years.

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The southern Utah business community certainly reflects this vibrant growth, and Deseret Laboratories is no exception. Open orders for Deseret’s contract services have increased by 50 percent during the pandemic as the world embraces individual efforts to eat and live healthier.

Deseret Labs will soon be completing a new 40,000 square foot manufacturing and warehousing addition, bringing its overall St. George facility to 175,000 square feet.

The Future. As St. George residents who are proud of their southern Utah heritage, it is exciting for Deseret Labs to contribute to the local economy and in its own small way, give back to the community that has given them so much.

Deseret Laboratories is honored to have its name associated with the new Deseret Laboratories Chemistry Lab located within Dixie State University’s recently dedicated Science, Engineering, and Technology building and looks forward to being able to provide DSU students an option to live and work in southern Utah following their graduation.

As a member of BioUtah, Deseret Laboratories is pleased to be a part of the thriving life science community of Utah that we now call BioHive. Deseret Labs is, and plans to remain, a privately held corporation, with the next generation of St. George’s best already making significant contributions as an integral part of Deseret’s daily community operations and succession plans.