Pioneering spin-out company Attomarker wins prestigious award

The ground-breaking company won the “One to Watch” award at the annual OBN Life Sciences event, held in Oxford.

The company has developed the world’s first “pocket blood-testing laboratory”, which provides a comprehensive and easy way to monitor, manage and help combat some of the biggest health challenges of today.

The innovative spin-out was founded by Andrew Shaw, an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Exeter.

On winning the award, Professor Shaw said: “Winning the OBN One to Watch award represents national recognition of Attomarker’s technology and market opportunity, and a real reward for the work of the team and the support of our investors.”

The Attomarker technology and app-based care pathways are designed to provide governments, health NGOs, healthcare professionals and patients with game-changing solutions in public health.

As well as helping patients avoid the onset of type-2 diabetes and identify and manage their food allergies, Attomarker can also help map, monitor and combat epidemics of HIV & TB and, crucially, play a crucial role in fight against antimicrobial resistance by helping cut the inappropriate use of antibiotics.

For the award, the judge’s citation said Attomarker had ‘achieved more than others, have an on-trend technology and are moving forward commercially. The judges commended their patient-centric approach and felt they were achieving good progress in a tricky market’.

Dr Neil Hayes from Innovation, Impact and Business (IIB) at the University of Exeter said:  “We are really pleased to see a University of Exeter spin-out company winning this award. It’s well deserved recognition for all the work Andrew and the Attomarker team have put into commercialising this exciting technology over many years”.

The OBN Awards, which are in their 11^th year, celebrate the best of UK life sciences – from outstanding scientific innovation within Biotech, Medtech and Digital Health, to the companies that support the industry and the fundraisers that make it happen.  

John Harris, CEO of OBN, said: “We received an incredible number of entries yet again this year, so competition has been really tough for all nominees. All our winners and finalists are truly innovative, at the very top of their respective sectors, and set a great example to the rest of the industry. We have introduced several new categories this year to reflect industry trends. The turn-out and support we have received is a true reflection of how buoyant our industry continues to be, and I would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters for helping us make the OBN Awards once again such a great success.”