Oxford Medical Diagnostics Receives Award of a Development Grant from the Technology Strategy Board
The Company is pleased to announce the receipt of grant support, from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), for its programme to develop a hand-held monitor for measurement of acetone in the breath of patients with Type 1 diabetes.
The offer of £250,000 is to support development of the prototype and initial clinical studies for the next 15 months. This is matched funding whereby the TSB will provide 45% of the cost of approved activities whilst the Company provides 55%. The grant application was submitted on 22nd February for the 6th March deadline. This is a competitive process with only a small number of proposals receiving support. Notification of approval was received by OMD on 13th April.
Support from the TSB only follows after review of the technology, the business case and the development programme and must reflect the fact that the proposer has given proper consideration to all the elements of the process and that these have been translated into reasonable time lines and an appropriate budget. It is therefore an important endorsement of our technology, winning TSB support in a time where research funding is in short supply. It is also an endorsement of the management team for crafting a persuasive but professional proposal.
This new injection of funds is most important and underpins the development timelines. Thus to build on the successes achieved to date the Company must continue to raise new investment to ensure that the project can proceed beyond the time horizons of existing funding.
Chief Executive Officer, Diana Davies said: "I am delighted by the offer of this substantial grant. It is an endorsement of our technology, the quality of our business case and reflects the hard work and commitment of the scientific team to develop an innovative, non-invasive technology for measuring blood glucose. This success is in no short measure due to the loyalty of our shareholder base who have continued to provide the necessary funding. "