Omega Diagnostics secures GBP1.8m R&D grant

AIM-listed Omega Diagnostics has secured a £1.8m Scottish Enterprise research and development grant that will help fund the planned expansion of its Allersys range of reagents for use in allergy in vitro diagnostics.

The medical diagnostics company – which focuses on allergy, food intolerance and infectious disease – said the project funding will be used to accelerate a growth in menu from 41 allergens to 120 allergens over the next three years to cope with anticipated increasing demand.

It pointed out that the World Allergy Organisation estimates that between 30% and 40% of the global population are affected by one or more allergic diseases.

In addition, it said the allergy diagnostic market is expected to growth steadily at a compound annual rate of 12.7% between 2015 and 2019.

A portion of the grant will also be used to establish a global health scientific team to screen future product opportunities for resource-limited settings.

Chief executive officer Andrew Shepherd said: “We are delighted with this level of commitment from Scottish Enterprise which has supported the company over a number of years. Teams from both organisations worked hard to deliver an outcome that will support economic growth in Scotland, as well as providing new products with global export potential."

At 1148 BST, Omega shares were up 10.7% to 19.92p.