Oxford: Perspectum Diagnostics moves into new offices and expands in US

Perspectum Diagnostics, the University of Oxford spin-out behind a revolutionary new medical device which removes the need for costly and painful liver biopsies, is expanding from serviced offices at Oxford Centre for Innovation to a fully-leased 8,000 sq ft office at Beaver House in Oxford. It has also opened two new US offices. 

The firm has more than tripled its headcount thanks to the success of its LiverMultiScan, a new way of assessing disease in the liver by measuring the amount of fat, iron, fibrosis and inflammation of the liver in the same scan.

To facilitate the company’s rapid growth, vital business support has been provided from Oxford Innovation Services which has led to the award of two major grants totalling €4.5 million. In addition Perspectum Diagnostics has been provided with market data to assist its international expansion.

Dr Rajarshi Banerjee, one of the four founders and CEO of Perspectum Diagnostics, said: “The extended network provided by Oxford Innovation has enabled us to speed-up the adoption of our technology in the UK and internationally, in addition to developing our R&D portfolio.  We are also working with a Polish software company to develop a new way of diagnosing liver disease in children.”

Jakub Rakoczy, innovation advisor at Oxford Innovation Services, explained: “Perspectum was originally focused on R&D activities but its founders came to recognise that they required external business support to complement their scientific expertise. We assisted them in securing Horizon 2020, SME Instrument and Eurostars funding and used our unique Oxford Innovation GROWTHmapper tool to assess their strengths and weaknesses while gaining a deeper understanding of how the management teams were aligned in their views of the business.” 

Perspectum Diagnostics first moved to the Oxford Centre for Innovation in November 2013, occupying a five-person office. Over 40 employees will now be moving to Beaver House.

Perspectum’s LiverMultiScan device is currently under consideration by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for adoption by the NHS for liver diagnosis, which could lead to significant savings of £500 per patient for a disease that currently effects 15 to 20% of the UK’s population.