Avacta secures new order

The order by the unnamed firm means York-based Avacta has now sold six of the Optim 1000 units and the company said today it had seen a "significant increase" in sales leads for the device following a series of trade shows.

Alastair Smith, Avacta chief executive said: "This latest Optim order from the world's biggest biopharmaceutical developer is clearly an important sale and potentially the first of several to this customer.

"I am particularly pleased that by running a short evaluation of Optim for the customer using their test samples the sale was quickly secured, which is a strong indictment of the value proposition of Optim.

"This, and the sharp increase we have seen recently in customers sending or arranging to send test samples to evaluate the product, is an encouraging indication of gathering momentum in the commercialisation of Optim."

In an attempt to drive sales in the US, the company has placed units in the laboratories of the Universities of Kansas and Colorado on the basis that they are influential in the country's biopharmaceutical sector.