Bradford Particle Design (BPD), a company founded by staff of Bradford university's pharmacy department to exploit patented particle formation technology, has received a £3m investment from the 3i venture capital company. Announcing the investment on November 13, 3i also said that BPD had signed a licensing agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Mr Andrew Fraser (investment director, 3i Healthcare) said that BPD was a justifiably ambitious company which was already working in partnership with most major players in the pharmaceutical industry. "BPD is a very clear global leader with a product which we expect to make a significant impact on pharmaceutical manufacturing," Mr Fraser said. BPD was founded six years ago, employs 40 staff and has a capitalisation of £35m. Its principal shareholders are its three founders, Professor Peter York, Dr Mazen Hanna and Dr Gwyn Humphreys. Bradford university also has a significant shareholding. The company holds patents for a process known as solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids. This process leads to the formation of reproducible particles from supercritical fluids in a single stage process. Supercritical fluids are neither gas nor liquid, but have physical properties between the two.