MEDHERANT LTD

Medherant is a clinical-stage company developing innovative treatments using its novel transdermal drug delivery technology, the TEPI Patch. There is considerable interest in the transdermal delivery of drugs to overcome some of the disadvantages of oral administration, such as spikes in drug levels that can lead to side effects, and poor compliance. Patches are also a more convenient way to deliver drugs through the skin than gels and creams and provide better dose control.

The company was founded by Professor David Haddleton and the University of Warwick using their world-leading expertise in bioadhesives and polymer chemistry.

Medherant has developed its own novel pressure sensitive adhesive. The drug

Occuity Ltd

The eye, says Occuity CEO Dan Daly, is about far more than seeing the world around us. It contains a record of the changes happening within our bodies. Diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease leave markers as the disease progresses.

Occuity’s products use patented optical technologies to identify changes in the eye which can be used for the early detection and monitoring of these diseases and more.

Reading-based Occuity says its products can be used to make diagnosis quickly and non-invasively.

Last September it launched a £1.8 million fundraiser on crowdfunding to be delivered is mixed with the adhesive. This proprietary delivery system was well-tolerated in a Phase I clinical study. platform Seedrs – and smashed its target within 24 hours, settling at more than £2 million. It was the largest MedTech financing deal ever on the platform.

Medherant is collaborating with third parties to formulate their drugs for transdermal delivery using its TEPI technology. In the future, Medherant expects to receive milestone payments and/or licence revenues for products utilising its technology.

Medherant has secured funding from Mercia Fund Management and private investors.

In total the firm raised £2.85 million for the development of Occuity Indigo, an optical glucose meter. The device will allow the 4.7 million people in the UK with diabetes to monitor their bloodsugar levels through a simple scan of the eye.

Its other products are the AX1 Axiometer, which will be used to look at the progression and control of myopia (nearsightedness), and the PM1 Pachymeter, which will make it easier, faster and safer to diagnose glaucoma by measuring corneal thickness in just a few seconds.

OrganOx Ltd

Last November, Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC) made a £1.6 million investment from the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund into OrganOx Ltd, a spinout from Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. The following month OrganOx was granted premarket approval of its metra system by the USA Food and Drug Administration.

The OrganOx metra is an automated device for the preservation and transport of donor livers destined for transplantation. The marketing approval includes livers from donors after brain death and livers from donors after circulatory death.

The OrganOx metra improves the viability and supply of donor organs. During preservation with the metra, the liver is continuously perfused with oxygenated blood, medications and nutrients at normal body temperature and physiological pressures, and flows for up to 24 hours.

This means the liver is functional throughout preservation, allowing for evidence-based decisions on whether to transplant a donor organ.

The metra has already supported more than 1,000 liver transplants globally. The investment was part of a £6.4 million equity funding round led by OIC and supported by existing and new shareholders.