A SCOTTISH medical diagnostics business, which provides vets with systems to test for fatal diseases in cattle, has secured £1.5 million in its second fundraising round.

Kelvin Capital, led by directors John McNicol and Angus Hay, led the over-subscribed round which will support the continued commercial development of Biotangents’ platform.

The technology is used to quickly detect infectious diseases in livestock, on site and within the same day. It means farmers can isolate an infected animal quickly and limit spread within the herd. By contrast, it can take seven days for the results of a traditional off-site lab test. Scottish Investment Bank took part in the latest fund-raiser.

Alan Hale, chief executive of Biotangents, said: “The global medical diagnostics market is vast and presents a range of opportunities for us to become a global leader in the engineering of biology to produce fast, sensitive, reliable and easy-to-use diagnostic products. We already know that our diagnostic platform technology can have a real impact on identifying infectious diseases, quickly, in animals and that our patent pending design can be adapted for use in many other products and applications.

“Our focus right now is on addressing the diagnostics of Bovine viral diarrhoea – a highly contagious viral disease of cattle. The financial costs alone of failing to diagnose that disease early can cost farmers up to £470 per animal, and it is responsible for £61 million of losses each year in the UK alone. If we can successfully roll out our test internationally we can realise an enormous market opportunity.”