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Malvern Medical Developments, are through to the final of the Lord Stafford Awards, for their work on a device to revolutionise the way deadly viruses and infections are identified.

The award showcases companies who have worked with universities and innovation programmes to develop new products and processes.

Paul Broadbent

Their invention, called the Oracol Plus, is a disposable saliva collection device, that makes it quicker a safer to collect samples to test for diseases including measles, H.I.V. and Ebola.

These can then be identified quickly, and treatment speeded up, potentially saving thousands of lives in the process.

The success of the company, which was founded in 1988, means that it can now open up a second cleanroom at its Worcester site, which could lead to more jobs in the area.

Peter Broadbent, their Managing Director, is confident the product will make a real difference:

"The extraction and collection of saliva for medical testing currently uses too many operations and runs a risk of contamination.

"In essence, we now have a product that is easy and safe to use and, thanks to the redesigned break off feature of the handle, gives the laboratory a safe sample to manage."