A TECHNOLOGY firm is primed to improve brittle bone diagnosis after securing a fresh contract.

Kromek has extended its presence in the healthcare sector with a five-year deal worth at least £4m to support osteoporosis work.

Bosses at the company, based at NetPark, in Sedgefield, County Durham, say the agreement is with an existing customer and will see its cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector modules incorporated into a new product.

Announcement of the contract comes just days after chief executive Dr Arnab Basu told The Northern Echo that the business is targeting a $100m-a-year healthcare sub-sector with a new camera aimed at helping treat cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

He added the firm, which began as a research-focused spin out from Durham University’s physics department in the early 2000s, hopes to break even next year as the “transformational” product takes hold.

Referring to its latest deal, which will be delivered in Kromek’s current financial year, Dr Basu said the agreement was another sign of the business’ rising marketplace repute.

He said: “We are delighted to have secured a further contract by an existing customer as they launch a new medical diagnostics product.

“It further validates our belief that, as customers move away from legacy diagnostic systems, CZT-based detectors will become a core technology and we anticipate to be one of the major suppliers to this segment.

“The agreement also demonstrates the strong relationships we build with our customers and our commitment to securing further contracts in the medical imaging sector.”

Speaking to the Echo in June, Dr Basu revealed he expects its new camera to be introduced in China soon, with expansion into Europe and the US following thereafter, adding the equipment will give Kromek an added edge in the single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) sector.

He said that by supplying competitors of existing market mainstay GE Healthcare, Kromek will move closer to a previously-announced ambition of seeing earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and sharebased payments (EBITDA) break even by next year.

He also said the interest, allied to rising clamour for products across other industries, should help take yearon- year revenue growth to around 40 per cent, giving a stronger platform to record its first profit in the coming years.

He added: “The product is market ready and is best in class.

“The market opportunity (for the detector aspect) is $100m a year and we are engaging with it.

“This camera is transformational for the SPECT market.

“It is already used in hospitals but we have taken the technology from a black and white TV to an ultra-highdefinition TV.”

Kromek previously revealed its technology was used to protect US President Donald Trump and other world leaders during a Nato Security Summit in Belgium.

It has also sent thousands of radiation detectors to an agency of the US Department of Defense to help identify threats, such as ‘dirty bombs’, and is known for airport bottle scanners that scour luggage for explosives.