A Stroud-based medical equipment company has been given special accreditation to produce and market a pain relief device in Britain and Europe.

After nearly four years of investigation into the claims of the device, Platform14 has just been given neuro modulation certification for its BiowaveGo product.

And its founder, Steve Dechan, has now taken a 12 per cent stake in the Biowave Group in the United States, which has been producing the pocket-sized device for the American market for the last 14 years.

Platform14 are now expanding their Stroud operation to manufacture and assemble the devices, which are on sale through Amazon and their website.

The business said it aims to expand its team to 25 employees by the end of this year, all working at its new Griffin Mill manufacturing and distribution centre in Stonehouse.

The BioWaveGo device is already being used by several premiership soccer clubs and horse racing trainers to cope with pain.

"We are actively helping elite sports people with their pain issues", said Mr Dechan, who is an ultra-marathon runner himself.

"BioWaveGo is able to help these elite sports people through pain as they are unable to take certain drugs. In America, we have had great success with the pain treatment of NFL and ice hockey players."

Steve Dechan said the key component of BioWaveGo is to transmit high frequency electric signals to relieve pain-blocking the signal at the nerve to deliver deep long-lasting relief without the need for opiod drugs.

"Our aim is to remove chronic pain for thousands of people without the use of drugs", he added.

The World Institute of Pain's president-elect, Dr Dominic Hegarty, has joined the board of Platform14 to help the introduction of BioWaveGo to the UK and European market.

Dr Hegarty said: "For the millions of people that experience pain that prevents them from everyday tasks such as shopping, diving their cars or walking the dog, having the ability to provide an effective, reliable and affordable pain therapy is fundamental in the personalisation of pain management"

It has taken two and a half years for Platform14 to convince the British and European regulators that the pain relief claims of BioWaveGo are medically substantiated.

Platform14 was set up as a medical equipment supply company nine years ago in Stroud and since the start of the Covid pandemic, the company has supplied £300 million of PPE to the NHS and are now also supplying lateral flow and saliva tests.

"One of the frequent questions I am asked", said Steve Dechan, "Is have we used the Covid PPE business to expand our company into BioWave.

"The answer is yes-absolutely. Having said that our ethos is that we did not profit hugely for the supplies to the NHS. They were supplied on very low margins.

"We were a medical company before the pandemic- unlike many others who supplied PPE to the government. And we are still a medical company supplying the NHS."

For more information, please visit https://platform-14.com or call 0345 257 1014.