Oxford, UK; 3 August 2005 - Oxford Immunotec, the T cell diagnostics company, announced today that it has closed a £7M series B private equity financing.  The round was led by Prelude Ventures, who invested £2.75M, alongside Quester, the Dow Chemical Company, and Top Technology.  Oxford Immunotec will use the financing to extend marketing for its first product, T SPOT™-TB, a diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB), currently approved for sale in Europe.  

T SPOT-TB can be reliably used to detect TB infection and is currently the only available test for the effective diagnosis of latent TB in immunocompromised patients.  The patented technology behind the test is the first regulatory approved method for directly quantifying antigen-specific T cells and provides opportunities for improved diagnosis of many other infectious diseases. 

Dr. Rob James of Prelude commented: “Prelude is delighted to be investing in a company that has devised the most advanced and accurate solution for the diagnosis of TB. Often wrongly assumed a problem of a bygone age, TB is now incredibly common worldwide and is steadily on the rise.  This represents a later stage investment for Prelude as the business is already producing revenues and is on the path to profitability. We are enthusiastic to be involved with a company which holds such exceptional and potentially crucial technology.”  

Dr. Peter Wrighton-Smith CEO and founder of Oxford Immunotec commented: “The T SPOT-TB test revolutionises the way in which we detect this widespread and dangerous disease. We have approval in the EU and in many other countries further afield and we have strong prospects for the use of our patented technology for the diagnosis of other infectious diseases. We are excited to be working with Prelude who is helping us move closer to achieving profitability and who have a strong track record in supporting the rapid development of companies such as ourselves.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS: 

About Oxford Immunotec

www.oxfordimmunotec.com

Oxford Immunotec, the T cell diagnostics company, is headquartered near Oxford, UK. The Company develops and sells clinical diagnostic products based on its patented T SPOT™ technology, which opens up new ways of diagnosing and monitoring infections.   T SPOT is a simple and extremely accurate method of studying a person’s cellular immune response to infection and can be applied to diagnose and monitor any major disease driven by a T-cell response.

About T SPOT™-TB

T SPOT-TB is an in vitro T-cell activation assay used for diagnosing TB infection and the first product from Oxford Immunotec using the T SPOT technology. The product is extremely robust in that it gives a result every time and offers unrivalled and maintained sensitivity in high risk and immunocompromised patient groups. T SPOT-TB is approved for sale in Europe and is designed to replace the 115 year old tuberculin skin test. As such it offers a substantially more accurate and effective tool for controlling the spread of TB, addressing a market of £600m.

About Prelude Trust plc

www.prelude-ventures.com

Prelude Trust plc (“Prelude”) is an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:PDT).  The trust was launched in 1997, with the unique objective to seek significant capital appreciation over the long term primarily through venture capital investment in unquoted high-growth technology and life science based businesses. 

As an investment trust, Prelude is different from the more usual venture capital limited partnerships and from VCT vehicles in that it can recycle the proceeds from realisations within its portfolio back into additional new early-stage investments.

The award winning team that manages Prelude, consisting of Dr Robert Hook, Alan Duncan, Russell Haggar and Dr Robert James, has over 25 years of combined experience in their investment fields.  At Prelude, they have built a promising portfolio of 14 companies in the communications, IT and life sciences sectors.