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Many drugs require frequent injections, making them inconvenient, unattractive to patients and increasing the risk of infection. Asterion Ltd is a spin-out drug development company specializing in technology designed to reduce the frequency of such injections. It was founded in 2000 by three University of Sheffield academics and has raised equity/loan funding of £1,055,000 since 2008. Since 2009 Asterion has attracted licensing income from two overseas pharmaceutical companies, [text removed for publication], totalling over £532,959, clearly demonstrating impact on commerce and collaborations with industry. In addition, since January 2008, Asterion Ltd has invested £1,269,798 on its research and patent portfolio. Asterion holds 7 US patents granted since 2008; all the named inventors on these patents are University of Sheffield staff. Total research and licensing income for the period was £960,000.
Research on vapour growth of semiconductor compounds led to a key breakthrough in growing large crystals which form the basis for sensitive X-and gamma-ray detectors. The process was commercialised by a Durham University spin-out company, Kromek Ltd., which floated on AIM at £55M and has over 100 employees in the UK and USA. The X-ray detectors are in use in Kromek's security systems for screening liquids at airports, significantly reducing restrictions on duty free goods. This application won the $400,000 international prize in the 2009 Global Security Challenge. The company also markets gamma-ray detectors for nuclear isotope identification. These have won contracts totalling $7.5M from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency and are in use at Fukushima.