Avacta takes vital step with US agreement

Avacta was co-founded by chief executive Alastair Smith in January 2004 as a spin out from the University of Leeds’ physics department.

By The Newsroom

Published 3rd Apr 2012, 07:00 BST

Mr Smith founded Avacta along with two fellow Leeds scientists, Simon Webster and Kurt Baldwin.

At the time it was set up as a services business.

The company recognised the need for analytical technology that could work with every small samples of material.

It serves the high-end analytical instruments and services part of the biopharmaceutical sector, expected to be a $200bn market by 2013 and the fastest growing part of the pharmaceutical industry.

It floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2006.

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