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Newcastle healthtec firm crosses the pond

A TYNESIDE healthtech company has jetted out to the US for the chance to impress international investors in a bid to secure a slice of a $36m pot.

OJ-Bio Ltd’s CEO travelled to San Francisco this week as part of Future Health Matters Mission, a competition to identify and support the best fast-growing ‘HealthTech’ technology companies in the UK.

The firm, which develops unique mobile devices for use against global disease pandemics, were invited to the event after being singled out as a top 20 UK health technology company.

Dale Athey, Managing Director at OJ-Bio Ltd, said: “It is a great honour to have been named as one of the top 20 health technology companies in the UK.

“The event will provide us with a fantastic platform to talk about this exciting technology, and the progress we have made over the last 14 months.”

Based at the Centre for Life, the firm was founded in November 2009 as a joint venture between Newcastle-based nanotechnology company Orla Protein Technologies and Japanese electronics giant Japan Radio Company Ltd (JRC).

It was set up to create new disease-detecting devices using the combined strength of its founders’ biomedical and electronic manufacturing expertise.

Mr Athey added: “There is a clear need for improved methods for easy, rapid, cost effective detection and identification of infectious diseases.

“OJ-Bio is developing a range of wireless rapid wireless diagnostic biosensor products to meet this need.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .