Medical diagnostics firm secures funding

Saw DX, a medical technology spin-out founded at the University of Glasgow, has secured a fresh six-figure funding boost.

The £750,000 cash injection from IP Group, a developer of intellectual property-based businesses, and the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) comes just weeks after the firm secured £1.1 million in support from the UK government’s biomedical catalyst fund.

Collectively, the new capital will help secure the company’s route to market for new products in infectious disease diagnostics.

The resources will be used over the next 18 months to finalise a prototype system, providing clinicians with a “faster, cheaper and more portable way” to diagnose a range of infectious diseases.

An agreement with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has already led to an early prototype being used for the detection of several sexually transmitted infections. Plans are also in place for the system to find use in diagnosing latent tuberculosis and malaria.

Professor Jon Cooper, director and academic founder of the firm, said: “We’re confident that additional funding to refine our design will result in excellent performance of the instrument for use in clinics, hospitals and the home in the future.”

Kerry Sharp, head of the Scottish Investment Bank, added: “Saw DX is illustrative of the quality of research in Scottish universities with strong commercial potential.”

SIB is the investment arm of economic development agency Scottish Enterprise. 0 Kerry Sharp heads the Scottish Investment Bank