A product developed by a Co Antrim-based company, Amtec, which measures the level of anaesthetic required by patients undergoing surgery, has been launched at a conference in Birmingham.

The company claims the Amtec Fathom will prevent the rare occurrence when a patient wakes during surgery but is paralysed and cannot alert anyone to their condition.

Most hospitals rely on physiological readings taken from a patient such as sweating and breathing to determine the amount of anaesthetic to give a patient.

In contrast, the Fathom measures readings taken from the patient's brain stem together with more traditional measures to provide a constantly updated indicator of anaesthetic depth.

The product is due to be launched in Europe in January 2001 and is being prepared for a US launch at Easter, according to Amtec's managing director, Mr Will McKee.

He said the company was currently negotiating a strategic partnership with one of the biggest medical companies based in the US, which would help Amtec distribute the product.

The company has already received first-stage funding of £600,000 sterling (€995,000) from Crescent Capital in Northern Ireland, and is seeking second-round funding of between £2 million and £3 million sterling to bring it towards an IPO some 18 months or two years down the line.

Amtec has already had considerable success with its first major product, the Venometer, a portable device that uses a simple test to provide an objective evaluation of the presence of lower limb deep vein thrombosis.

More than 80 hospitals in the UK have already purchased this product and the first sales into the Republic have been finalised. The product will be delivered next month.

The Venometer will be launched in the US in February 2001.

Mr McKee said Amtec would have turnover of more than £1.5 million this year and this should grow to more than £5 million the following year.