Boditech Med, a company specializing in in-vitro diagnostic solutions, said on Friday that it signed an exclusive contract with Menarini Diagnostics, an Italian firm, to supply four types of point-of-care diagnostic (POCT) equipment including AFIAS-10, AFIAS IGRA-TB, AFIAS PTH, AFIAS CARBA-5 in Europe.

Accordingly, the supply covers 34 European countries including the U.K., Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Montenegro, Albania, and Macedonia. The contract worth 18.05 million euros (approximately 24.6 billion won) will last for three years and already accounts for 15.6 percent of Boditech Med's previous year's sales, said a company official

AFIAS-10 is an immune analysis device that can quickly and accurately perform a maximum of 10 different tests simultaneously such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hormones in an automatic manner. Meanwhile, its tuberculosis diagnostic kit, AFIAS IGRA-TB, can detect latent tuberculosis infections so preemptive measures can be taken before patients become active with TB infection.

The contract also includes the supply of AFIAS PTH which can detect high calcium concentrations in the blood to diagnose primary hyperparathyroidism. AFIAS CARBA-5 is another diagnostic for testing antibiotic resistance which provides indicators based on the five major enzymes that break down antibiotics in the body (OXA-48, NDM-1, KPC-2, VIM-1, IMP-1).

Menarini Diagnostics said it plans to use its strength in selling antibiotic products to expand the supply of diagnostic kits for managing the increasing trend of antibiotic resistance.

Meanwhile, Market Data Forecast predicted that Europe's in-vitro diagnostic market will grow at an annual average rate of 5.1 percent and reach about 24 trillion won by 2027 due to the increasing incidence of infectious diseases.

Boditech Med CEO Choi Eui-yeol said, "Starting with this contract, we will actively target the European market by strengthening cooperation with multinational pharmaceutical companies."