"A SCOTTISH medical technology minnow is weeks away from formal testing of what it claims will be a major global breakthrough in its field.

Touch Bionics, the Edinburgh prosthetic company, expects this summer to launch what it says is the world's most advanced complete prosthetic arm system.

Its iLimb offers a far wider range of movement than existing artificial limbs, most of which were designed decades ago. The design is £1,000 more expensive than conventional models, with an expected pricetag of £2,500-£3,000.

Formal testing will begin at two UK sites at the end of April, before further tests in Sweden, the US and Canada. Pending successful testing, commercial production is expected to start by August.

Company founder David Gow told The Scotsman that Touch Bionic's design offers three types of movement: a precision grip, to hold, for example, a pen, a control grip and a power grip. It also has a simple adjustment of the thumb, unlike the widely used pincer-like products that have one movement - open and shut.

Also unlike existing systems, the iLimb is modular, with five articulating digits that can be easily reconfigured, and individual parts that can be replaced when damaged. It can be used for those with full arm loss or as little as partial hand loss.

Gow said the work that led to the iLimb began almost eight years ago.

More than 50 amputees have tested the iLimb at different stages during development.

While confident in the value of the product, no-one from Touch Bionics is willing to guess at the size of the market.

However, chief executive Stuart Mead said that interest from the potentially massive US market has been "very encouraging indeed".

The US military in particular, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a major potential market, with amputees from the armed services reportedly given $250,000 (£144,000) for equipment such as prosthetic limbs. Mead said military amputees tended to be "demanding individuals, fit and young, who need quite sophisticated prosthetics. That fits quite well with us".

Spun-out of NHS Scotland in 2003, Touch Bionics received a SMART award for its designs from Scottish Enterprise when it was first established. More recently a £1 million funding package from investors including Archangel Informal Investments and the Scottish Co-investment Fund have taken the company to the verge of commercialisation.

Gow said there appeared to have been "inertia" among prosthetics companies, which have not significantly developed the pincer-like product introduced more than 30 years ago.

"When you have an established company and all that goes with it, developing new ideas could put the existing markets out of business. We don't come along with any of that."

Mead adds that the iLimb could mean a new way of life for many amputees: "People will just be able to do so much more with it. You'll be able to pick up a glass of wine or a CD."

Amputee Campbell Aird, a former Scottish hotel owner, even learnt to throw with the device, which he describes as "light and durable". He said that many amputees would probably remain content with existing technology, but the iLimb filled a void for those wanting a greater range of movements.

"It's hope for the future and it's certainly taking research and development a great leap forward," Aird said.

Into a difficult market

THIS month Axis-Shield, the Dundee-based in vitro diagnostics company, became the first quoted Scottish medical firm to post full-year profits, after an 11 per cent rise in revenues.

But Scotland's biotechnology sector is riddled with expensive past failures. Firms such as Aortech, NMT, PPL Therapeutics and Biolitec (formerly Scotia Holdings) promised much, but have either fallen by the wayside or remain troubled.

Touch Bionics chief executive Stuart Mead refuses to put a market value on his device, but already has encouraging signs from the US. With amputees from the armed services reportedly given $250,000 (£144,000) for equipment such as prosthetic limbs, the fact the iLimb is marginally more expensive than the competition is not expected to be a major dissuasive factor. The iLimb is expected to cost £2,500-£3,000."