JOBS LOST IN FIRM'S U.S. MOVE

DAVID ELKS

12:00 - 02 July 2003

A Medical research company has shut down its South Cheshire headquarters, despite winning 900,000 of orders for technology to help fight the deadly Sars virus. An undisclosed number of staff at Crewe-based Osmetech have been made redundant after the company transferred its research operations to America.

The news comes as the company reported a boom in sales of a blood gas analyser to China over the past month to monitor patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
A spokesman for Osmetech, which employs 38 staff at the town's business park, said the decision followed a 2.2 million deal to take over pharmaceutical giant Roche's sensor division OPTI in March.
He said: "When they bought the company they also took on about 50 new staff involved in research and marketing.
"It was felt that Osmetech is still a fairly small company and having research operations split between the two sites was not efficient."

Following the move, the majority of research will now be conducted at OPTI's headquarters in Atlanta, while the company's registered headquarters has shifted to London.
This will enable the company to continue its listing on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. The executive directors will also be based in London.
The spokesman said that a number of workers in the North-West of England will remained involved in research while working from home.

The news comes as the company confirmed it had picked up 910,000 of orders for its equipment following the Sars virus outbreak in the Far East.
The handheld device cannot diagnose the virus, although it has optical sensors which can measure vital bodily conditions during treatment of its pneumonia-like symptoms. It measures blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite levels and can be used for measuring the oxygen saturation and acid-base balance in Sars patients.
Osmetech said this would be particularly useful in cases where treatment required the use of a ventilator for "supplemental oxygen" therapy.

The deal will help Osmetech, which is estimated by analysts Evolution Beeson Gregory to suffer losses of 3.2 million in the current financial year, push its way towards profitability. The orders received this month are already 10 times higher than the last financial year.

In January the company confirmed it had won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its sensor, which uses electronics technology to 'sniff' out bacteria which can cause miscarriages - a market worth between 900 million and 1.2 billion in the U.S.

The group cut losses by 20 per cent to 533,000 in the six months to January and is due to report its annual figures on July 30.

david.elks@thesentinel.co.uk

Can anyone explain all the activity on this one today?

Thanks,

Madison

OMH`s price supose to move from end/march-begin/april for its mini cycle,seems happen early this time!? But i won`t joint the party yet,patient is the name of the game. :))

does anyone know when osmetech q1 starts