OXFORD, England & MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Oxford Immunotec, a medical diagnostic company developing tests in the fields of infectious and immunological disease, announced today that it has raised a total of $28m in a new equity financing. The round was led by new investors Imperial Innovations and Invesco Perpetual and supported by existing shareholders, including Clarus, New Leaf, DFJ Esprit, Wellington, SPARK Ventures, the Dow Chemical Company, NTEC, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and the University of Oxford. Oxford Immunotec has now completed five institutional funding rounds totaling approximately $110 million since its establishment in 2002.
The proceeds from this financing will be used to expand sales & marketing of Oxford Immunotec’s lead product, the T-SPOT®.TB test for diagnosing latent TB infection, as well as for the development and commercialization of new products focused on infectious and immunological disease.
Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Innovations, said: “Oxford Immunotec is a well-run, high-growth company in an exciting space. This funding provides it with the capital to expand its operations in key markets and enables a UK university spin out to become a truly multinational business.”
Dr. Peter Wrighton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Immunotec commented: “This $28m funding exceeded our funding goal and is further validation of the market opportunity we are pursuing, the strength of our lab-based US business model and our early progress in penetrating that market. This funding will help us to expand sales & marketing at a faster rate, to penetrate new geographies and to accelerate the development and commercialization of other assays for our expanding customer base.”
About Oxford Immunotec
www.oxfordimmunotec.com
Oxford Immunotec Ltd., a global immunology-focused diagnostic company, is headquartered near Oxford, UK; its US operations are based in Marlborough, MA. The company is developing novel new tests in the fields of infectious and immunological disease based primarily on its patented T-SPOT® technology, the first FDA-approved method for directly quantifying antigen-specific T cells.
T-SPOT technology is a simple and extremely accurate method of studying a person’s cellular immune response and, as such, provides a unique methodology to diagnose and monitor diseases driven by a T cell response.
Oxford Immunotec’s primary product, the T-SPOT.TB test, is one of two Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) which detect latent TB infection and are replacing the 90-year old tuberculin skin test currently used for this purpose. The World Health Organisation1 estimated in 2006 that 50 million latent TB screening tests were performed each year, representing a greater than $1bn per annum market opportunity for TB testing globally. IGRAs are now endorsed in clinical guidelines in over 20 countries and the T-SPOT.TB test has now received regulatory approval in over 40 countries worldwide, including the US, Europe and China. In the US, the T-SPOT.TB test has its own CPT® code (86481) with recently increased CMS reimbursement of approximately $106/test. The T-SPOT.TB test is also covered in various other clinical lab fee schedules around the world.
As well as developing & selling tests in kit form, Oxford Immunotec also runs a testing laboratory business in both the US and the UK (Oxford Diagnostic Laboratories) designed to provide unparalleled levels of expertise, service, turnaround time and simplicity for physicians wanting to access immunological tests such as the T-SPOT.TB test.
T-SPOT and the Oxford Immunotec logo are registered trademarks of Oxford Immunotec Ltd.
CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association
1 WHO. Diagnostics for tuberculosis : global demand and market potential. 2006
Contact:
At Oxford Immunotec: Dr Peter Wrighton-Smith, CEO
Tel: +44 (0)1235 442780
Fax: +44 (0)1235 442781
Email: info@oxfordimmunotec.com
