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UK diagnostics innovator secures investment to advance pharmaceutical testing

Gloved hands holding a tray of capped sample vials under blue laboratory lighting
Gloved hands holding a tray of capped sample vials under blue laboratory lighting
Gloved hands holding a tray of capped sample vials under blue laboratory lighting

Cotton Mouton Diagnostics (CMD), a cutting-edge UK-based diagnostics technology company, has received a half-a-million-pound investment from CPI Enterprises as part of the Innovate UK Catapult Investment Pilot.

The investment is part of a UK Government strategy to invest in innovative companies with high growth potential. 

This investment will support CMD​’s continued commercial development of αBET®, an innovative benchtop instrument designed to provide a more sustainable, efficient and user-friendly alternative to traditional methods of endotoxin and pyrogen testing, a key step in the manufacturing of injectable medicines. 

CMD’s αBET® platform, accompanied by proprietary consumables, offers a rapid, cost-effective, and easy-to-use alternative to traditional centralised laboratory testing systems. The gold standard reagent used in this testing, Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL), is derived from the blood of the horseshoe crab. With continued growth in the pharmaceutical sector, the demand for endotoxin testing is growing. CMD recognised the importance of also offering a more sustainable testing solution, and the aBET® system reduces reagent consumption by more than 90% when compared with traditional testing.

I’ve worked in hospitals for years and believe that clinicians come up with lots of innovative ways to do things better. The stumbling block is getting them to come to fruition. I was looking for people to help me out, struggling, thinking this is never going to happen. CPI listened, they got it, and they’ve made it a reality.

Frank Millar

CPI

Aligning with global regulatory trends that are looking to phase out animal-derived testing methods in favour of recombinant reagents, CMD are expanding the aBET® test menu to allow users to run next-generation assays on the system, supporting both sustainability and scientific progress. 

Founded in 2014, CMD technology initially focused on malaria diagnostics before discovering its broader potential in pharmaceutical safety testing. The company has since gained commercial traction and benefited from previous Innovate UK funding and early investment to accelerate technology development.

I’ve worked in hospitals for years and believe that clinicians come up with lots of innovative ways to do things better. The stumbling block is getting them to come to fruition. I was looking for people to help me out, struggling, thinking this is never going to happen. CPI listened, they got it, and they’ve made it a reality.

Jenna Bowen

CMD

I’ve worked in hospitals for years and believe that clinicians come up with lots of innovative ways to do things better. The stumbling block is getting them to come to fruition. I was looking for people to help me out, struggling, thinking this is never going to happen. CPI listened, they got it, and they’ve made it a reality.

Dave Wilkes

Innovate UK

The pharmaceutical and therapeutic manufacturing sectors are experiencing exponential growth, particularly in personalised medicine and advanced biologics, increasing the demand for reliable and scalable endotoxin testing. CMD’s αBET® platform is uniquely positioned to meet this demand while complying with evolving regulatory frameworks. 

This investment aligns with UK Government’s strategic focus on accelerating innovation-led growth through impactful partnerships that bring novel technologies to global markets. 

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