Biotangents has secured £2.2m to support the development of its disease detection technology.
The new funding was made up of £1.6m from the UK Government’s Innovate UK loans programme and a further £600,000 from a round led by investment syndicate Kelvin Capital, with Scottish Enterprise also participating.
The Penicuik-based start-up also secured £1.2m in August 2021 in a round also led by Kelvin Capital, following an initial £1.5m worth of funding in May 2019.
Biotangents also confirmed the appointment of Fiona Marshall as chief executive and Ross McDermid as director of commercialisation, alongside Professor Richard Hammond as a non-executive director.
The company's isothermal technology can be applied to the rapid detection of a wide range of diseases in animal health, including bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) and Mastitis. Its AmpliSpec diagnostic test can cut the detection time for Mastitis from the current period of several days to just a few hours.
Biotangents aims to provide a specific pathogen diagnosis that can be carried out immediately, either on the farm or in a veterinary clinic, enabling rapid and targeted treatment for infected cattle.
Ian Hamilton, chairman at Biotangents, said: “Rapid diagnosis on the farm and in the veterinary clinic is a step change in the treatment and prevention of Mastitis and the consequent improvement in animal husbandry.
“Critically it allows vets to promptly decide on the most effective treatment programme including the correct antibiotic to be administered and length of treatment period, and lets farmers implement prompt procedures to minimise further infection within the herd.”
Fiona Marshall, the new chief executive at Biotangents, said: “In addition to our forthcoming lab based AmpliSpec BVD and Mastitis products, the new funding will enable the next phase of our product development delivering our new AmpliSpec platform directly to the veterinary and farming sectors.”
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