Snippets: Meldex starts EU filing; Recent Uni spin-off CTC raises £0.375m
Meldex International plc, the specialty pharmaceutical and healthcare company, said it has started the process of its first EU regulatory filing for a Soluleaves product in a pharmaceutical application. Soluleaves are orally delivered "dissolve-in-the-mouth" film strips which quickly release active ingredients. The product, DBP147, is a local anaesthetic for the treatment of sore mouth and throat conditions and the filing is due to be submitted to the EU Regulatory Authorities during Q2 2008.
Meldex also said it plans to launch a range of nutritional supplements in the EU using the Meltums enabling technology during Q4 2008, through the Melbrosin OTC division and its partnership programme.
In addition, Meldex confirmed plans to launch new flavours of SlimCup/ SlimThru, its novel slimming product, in February 2008 in Germany, Austria and Italy. The product is designed to offer the consumer enhanced choice in order to reduce non-compliance due to taste fatigue.
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Cambridge Temperature Concepts Ltd has secured £375,000 in private investment to aid product development of their novel ovulation detector – DuoFertility. The investment is syndicated between the Cambridge Angels, Cambridge Capital Group, and members of the Downing Enterprise board.
Founded in 2005 by four post-graduate students at the University of Cambridge, CTC are now based in new premises at the Cambridge Science Park and plan to complete their development programme over the next four months, with trials beginning in Q2 2008. The first product release of DuoFertility is scheduled for Q3 2008.
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A research team at the University of Cambridge has discovered that pre-existing industrially produced multilayer capacitors (MLCs) can be used to sense magnetic fields with no requirement for electrical power.
The February issue of the journal Nature Materials has included correspondence from the research team consisting of Dr Neil Mathur (pictured) and Dr Casey Israel from the Department of Materials Science and Professor Jim Scott from the Department of Earth Sciences. In the paper the team states that the electrodes of the MLCs, previously based on silver and palladium, are now instead based on nickel. This cost-saving measure enabled breakthrough discovery, which has led to a patent filed by Cambridge Enterprise Ltd, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge.
Dermot Leonard, a Technology Associate with Cambridge Enterprise, said “The global market in producing magnetic sensors is growing, for example in a few years time consumers could see cars which utilise this technology to improve driver control and monitor passenger positions for tailored seat settings. These MLCs, though probably less sensitive than the best magnetic sensors, can operate at room-temperature, with manufacturing costs starting at one cent per device or less. The research team suggest that these factors could lead to a range of sensor applications including toys. As device operation requires no electrical power, the sensors could operate in unusual environments, such as in space, underwater and inside the human body. Indeed, the ability of the MLCs to generate electricity from a moving magnet could in itself lead to energy harvesting applications."
1st February 2008
