BioAnaLab raises new investment to expand its analytical services

6 June 2005

BioAnalab Limited, the Oxford-based specialist contract analytical laboratory, today announced the successful completion of a further round of private equity funding totalling £440,000. The round was led by Octopus Asset Management, who invested £250,000 through the BioScience Venture Capital Trust. The other investors in this round include Oxford Technology 3 VCT, an existing investor in the company, and private investors, notably members of MedInnovate Limited, a group of health-care experts who work to develop new technologies and services in the field of medicine and life sciences.

The new funding will allow BioAnaLab to expand its facilities and staff to meet the increasing demand for its services. The company works with a wide range of biotech and pharmaceutical companies to analyse new drugs, and to test their efficacy and safety in clinical trials.

Professor Geoff Hale, Chief Executive Officer of BioAnaLab, commented:

"I am delighted to have secured this new investment. This allows us to continue to grow the business, meeting the demands of our clients around the world, and developing the new analytical methods which will be needed in the future. Our management team will be further strengthened by the expertise and interest of our new investors."

Chris Hulatt, Director of Octopus Asset Management, said:

"We are very pleased to have made this investment in BioAnaLab. We have been impressed by the quality of the BioAnaLab team and the considerable progress that the company has made since its establishment in 2002."

Dr Nicholas Edwards, Director of MedInnovate, said:

"MedInnovate is pleased to help fund and support the growth of BioAnaLab. Biopharmaceuticals is a major opportunity area for the pharmaceutical industry and BioAnaLab has already established a world leading expertise supporting the evaluation of these exciting new drugs."

For more information, please contact:

Geoff Hale
BioAnaLab Limited, The Magdalen Centre, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA
Tel 01865 784470

Chris Hulatt
Octopus Asset Management Ltd
Tel 020 7710 2800

Notes for editors

BioAnaLab is a laboratory which specialises in the analysis of biologic drugs like antibodies, vaccines, growth factors and hormones. It was founded by Geoff Hale in 2002 as a spin-out from Oxford University's Therapeutic Antibody Centre where a range of new treatments have been developed for leukaemia, multiple sclerosis and prevention of transplant rejection. The company provides services to the pharmaceutical industry and clinical investigators, mainly in the measurement of drug levels in the body and immune responses. It won a "Best New Start-up Laboratory" award in 2003 and since then has increased its turnover approximately eight-fold. Dr Chris Cox, the Director of Clinical Services is a finalist for the "Business Person of the Year" award of the forthcoming Oxfordshire Business of the Year 2005.