The University of Otago takes Toxinz poisons database to the US with potential for millions of dollars in sales.

Otago Innovations, the University of Otago’s commercialisation unit, has begun sales of subscriptions to Toxinz, a New Zealand-based database of poisons built up over the past 50 years.

Developed at the country’s National Poisons Centre in Dunedin, the database has 190,000 items on it, including poisonous industrial chemicals and ranging to venomous snakes and toxic mushrooms.

Current subscriptions to the database total more than AU$400k, but the US deal which will see the database sold through publisher Ebsco, could amount to several million according to Otago Innovation’s chief executive Colin Dawson.

Dawson said that subscription cash will be put back into research and developing mobile and tablet access to the database. He said: ”We want to be able to deliver a mobile function… for example, a doctor on-ward can check on treatments, instead of by computer.”