STRUGGLING high-tech company Oxonica saw its share price rise as it signed a £3.5m deal with US company BD (Becton Dickinson).

The 18-strong workforce of its US subsidiary Oxonica diagnostics will transfer to BD, but none of the remaining 20 staff, who work at the company's Begbroke headquarters, is affected, said spokesman Matthew Locke.

An Oxford university spin-out company, Oxonica is chaired by Australian business angel and former star of the BBC TV show Dragons Den Richard Farleigh.

Half the money is payable now, in exchange for the patents covering Oxonica's medical diagnostics technology, Nanoplex, which involves 'biomarkers' — metal particles which show the progress of disease in the blood or tissue. As well as diagnosing infections, heart disease and cancer, it could be used in lab tests for food pathogens and animal health.

The other £1.75m is payable if Oxonica completes technical transfer milestones. Oxonica will also earn royalties on sales of BD products covered by the patents.

It will continue to offer the technology to the security industry — for tracking valuable shipments — and to evaluate new opportunities in diagnostics, agriculture and fine chemicals.

Mr Farleigh said: "The announcement of this strategic agreement with BD is a major step towards achieving Oxonica's strategy.

"We have developed the technology to the point where BD can commercialise the technology. Oxonica can now further focus its resources on its major growth opportunities, including security."

The diagnostics business, which is based in the US, generated pre-tax losses of £688,000 last year.

Earlier this month, the shares slumped by as much as 16 per cent after the High Court ruled that Oxonica owed licensing fees to another company over its key product, Envirox, a green diesel additive designed to improve fuel efficiency.