Monday, May 12, 2008

Oxford Immunotec brings T-cell test for TB to new U.S. HQ

By Ryan McBride

Oxford Immunotec Ltd., a British medical diagnostics firm, has quietly launched its North American headquarters in the Boston area to support U.S. sales of its T-cell test for tuberculosis.

Last fall Oxford raised $40 million in a round of venture capital, with Cambridge-based VC firm Clarus Ventures as a lead investor. But the company opened its American beachhead in Marlborough to be close to the Sherborn home of its president for North America, Jeff Schroeder, he said.

Schroeder, who joined Oxford early last year, spent nearly five years as a vice president of sales with Cytyc Corp., a Marlborough maker of medical products for women, which was acquired by Bedford-based medical devices firm Hologic Inc. in a $6.2 billion deal closed in October 2007.

"We're hiring quickly, and we're pretty much ready to rock 'n' roll," said Schroeder, who manages 11 U.S. administration and sales employees. "We just need the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration's) nod, and we'll be off to the races."

He said he expects his company to get FDA approval for its T-Spot TB test "soon," but he declined to provide an exact date. The test measures the response of T-cells, which are key to the immune system, to detect the presence of TB.

Michael Steinmetz, a managing director at Clarus and a director of Oxford, said in a statement in October that the company's test "gives a true indication of whether an individual is infected with TB -- making it a much more accurate and effective tool" than other TB tests. He could not be reached this week.

The annual global market for TB diagnostics is about $1 billion, and the 18 million TB tests done on Americans makes the U.S. market worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Schroeder said. The firm, which is based outside of Oxford, England, says it has already begun sales of its test in the European market and has won marketing clearance in more than 40 countries.