Investment required：£10m ‐ £15m

    Clinical/Healthcare：Solid dose Drug Injector

    Synopsis
    Oxford Technology invested the first £100,000 in the company in 2003 when the company consisted of the founder working from home with an idea. The idea was to make a drug in solid form in the shape of a needle, and then to push this solid dose under the skin. The device for doing this would be a hand‐held spring‐loaded device, so that a user would be able to self administer a solid dose of drug simply by pressing the device against their skin. When a critical pressure was reached, the device would trigger pushing a small solid dose of drug under the skin. The idea is very simple and patents had been applied for (and subsequently granted throughout most of the world). The key advantages are:

    1. Drugs are more stable in solid than in liquid form so that it is not necessary to keep them cold in fridges (a major problem for using drugs in Africa for example)

    2. Because there is no needle, all the problems associated with needles (needle phobia, cross contamination, needle stick injury) vanish.

    Stage ‐ Expansion
    The Company has recently agreed an investment of £10m which is intended to enable it to take one drug all the way through to launch in Glide format. There is a view that if Glide can once get a drug in Glide format launched, then it is likely to become the standard method of delivering injected drugs. Early trials on volunteers showed that 14/16 people would switch from a conventional needle and syringe to Glide as soon as it is available, and the other two were happy to use either Glide or a conventional needle and syringe ‐ people don't like needles. Glide has recently won a grant from the US govt whose aim is to explore the possibility of delivering a vaccine for Anthrax in Glide format, enabling the self vaccinations of millions of in a short period of time in the instance of bio‐terrorism attack. Glide has various collaborations with various major pharma companies all aimed at switching the delivery of various common drugs (especially those which require daily injections to be administered at home) into Glide format.

 
    Opportunity for China：Medical – Self injection