New Monitoring Device Which Samples Blood While It Is Still Within The Patient's Body

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 16 Jan 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) announces today an investment round worth £500,000 to commercialise an innovative new monitoring device which samples blood while it is still within the patient's body.

Blood analysis is costly and labour-intensive. It relies almost exclusively on blood withdrawal and off-line analysis, requiring extensive input from professional health staff - which inevitably leads to delays and can result in errors.

The new funding for Bedford-based Probe Scientific is from NESTA and the co-investors are Acorn Services Group and private

investors. Many hospital patients already have an intravenous catheter, usually in the back of the hand or lower arm. This catheter enables medical staff to give fluids and take blood samples simultaneously. But for much of the time, the catheters are capped, awaiting use.

Probe Scientific has developed MicroEYE, which is designed to sit inside the catheter and sample the patient's blood, without removing it from the body.

It relies on a semi-permeable membrane being in contact with a patient's biological fluid and, by dialysis, extracting certain key indicator molecules from the fluid for continuous analysis at the bedside.

Mark White, Director of Invention & Innovation at NESTA, said:

"Probe Scientific is a great example of the kind of UK innovation our early stage seed funding is designed to support. Through investing in its innovative MicroEYE technology we are looking to ensure that this idea has every opportunity of being fully commercialised, benefiting patients and the UK economy."

The investment coincides with the appointment of Neil Smith as CEO, joining founder Dr Mark O'Connell from the University of Cambridge. The board of Probe Scientific has also been further strengthened by the appointment of Paul Jenkinson as CFO and Mike Sundler as non-executive director.

-- NESTA aims to be the strongest single catalyst for innovation in the UK. In everything we do, we are seeking to increase the UK's capacity to fulfil its vast innovative potential.

-- Through a range of pioneering programmes, we invest at every stage of the innovation process; investing in UK talent to ensure it stays here; providing early stage seed capital for promising ideas for new products and services; and experimenting with new ways of engaging the public in science, technology and the creative industries.

-- Neil Smith, CEO, has extensive Marketing and General Management experience in the international Medical Device Industry. Neil has considerable expertise in launching new products and therapies in international markets. http://www.probe-sci.com

-- Paul Jenkinson has been a Finance Director of both quoted and Venture-Capital backed technology business

-- With an engineering background, Mike Sundler has a significant international experience in the medical industry, much of it gained within the medical device sector.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS (NESTA)
Fishmongers' Chambers
110 Upper Thames Street
London EC4R 3TW
UK
www.nesta.org.uk

About the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS (NESTA)

NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) was set up by Act of Parliament in 1998. NESTA's income, about £8 million a year, comes from the interest from an endowment of £200 million from the National Lottery that was committed to establish, what is, the UK?s first and only national endowment. Our mission is to support and promote talent, innovation and creativity in science, technology and the arts.

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