Injector technology pioneer Oval Medical, based in Cambridge, is targeting the potentially lucrative Japanese market after attracting fresh investment for a global push.

The company has been helped in its cross-frontiers foray by UK Trade & Investment.

UKTI says that Oval has “succeeded in brokering a couple of lucrative deals and attracted investment from a French pharmaceutical company. Its future looks very rosy with a healthy funding stream and projected sales growth of £5m in two years. Next on the agenda is Japan.”

Business Weekly reported last year that Oval Medical had secured a £2 million investment from Wall Street-quoted company AptarGroup, Inc.

Now advice and funding from UKTI has helped the company boost its international exposure and win investment from a global medical device manufacturing company.

Dr Catherine Beech, CEO of Oval Medical Technologies first made contact with UKTI in 2010 to enhance the company’s exporting and marketing skills through the Passport to Export scheme; helping them take their first tentative steps with approaching pharmaceutical companies in foreign markets.

The company had developed a new auto injector system for drug delivery and were looking for organisations around the globe to partner with and gain investment from. UKTI International Trade Adviser for the East of England, Dave Revitt, helped them with the process. Dr Beech explains:

“We were given the opportunity to attend the Passport to Export workshop which was enormously insightful, while the subsequent action planning session focussed us on what our main objectives were and really equipped us with the necessary tools to research our markets overseas and start those initial discussions with pharma companies.”

Oval Medical Technologies, founded in 2009 by Matthew Young, develops syringes and autoinjectors which allow patients to inject themselves easily, reliably and safely with a minimum of training. It was born out of the belief that a novel primary drug containment technology could revolutionise the autoinjector market.

The product’s forebearer was the ComboPen® that was developed for soldiers in the first Gulf War to inject themselves in the event of nerve gas attacks, and which later became the basis of the now widely used EpiPen®. The innovative company is now developing an autoinjector that is much smaller, easier and safer to use than any other device currently available.

“It would be easy for us to succumb to the temptation of pursuing all the opportunities that come across our path, but one thing that we’ve learnt working with Dave and UKTI is to try not to address too many markets at the same time, and instead focus on those target markets we have identified within our export strategy,” said Dr Beech.

Dave Revitt comments: “Working with hi-tech medical companies like Oval, is a great pleasure; the people are so enthusiastic and keen to listen to new ideas and consider various strategies – particularly when it comes to trading internationally.

“New innovative products developed in the UK are welcomed around the world, the issue for small companies tends to be in financing the development.

“Oval has succeeded in raising the finance and gaining interest from a range of corporate businesses internationally. With the help of the Passport programme (and now the Gateway programme) Oval has been given the impetus to travel the globe to secure deals which will lead to growth, employment and increase in UK exports.”