A COMPANY developing a rapid test for tuberculosis has been turned down for a government grant because four of its staff work in South Africa, where they have access to more TB cases.

According to new rules introduced by the Department of Trade and Industry, this makes the company ineligible for a grant.

On the day that the letter arrived telling the company that its application for £250,000 had been refused, Gordon Brown pledged £41.7 million of taxpayers’ money to combat TB in India. Biotec Laboratories of Martlesham, Suffolk, is now considering leaving Britain.

Peter Ellis, its chief executive, has since written to the DTI and the Department for International Development saying that the situation is illogical. But ministers have confirmed that the East of England Development Board was correct in rejecting the application.

The Chancellor offered money to India at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, alongside Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, whose foundation has given huge amounts towards the elimination of diseases in the Third World.

With the help of a another foundation backed by Bill and Melinda Gates, Biotec has already developed a rapid test for detecting drug-resistant TB.

It was now seeking a DTI grant to help in the development of a similar test for all types of TB.

Existing tests can take up to eight weeks — too long for effective control of the disease. By the time it is confirmed, patients may have disappeared, spreading it further.

Biotec has plans to spend £650,000 on the project but needs a further £250,000.

Mr Ellis said: “We have four staff in South Africa because TB is a Third World disease. We can’t do the testing here — we must have access to new TB cases and there aren’t enough of them here.

“We particularly noted the comments made by Gordon Brown about the lack of innovation in faster diagnosis or effective treatment.”

Biotec was awarded DTI cash in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. But in April 2005 the administration of the grants was transferred to regional development agencies.

The East of England Development Agency confirmed that the grant application had been deemed ineligible and added that the grants scheme was not designed to support the continuing business development of a company.

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