EAST MEETS WEST AS CYPROTEX CUSTOMERS

BIOTECH firm Cyprotex has secured its first customer in the Far East and has announced a contract with a major US company. Cyprotex rose to prominence in 2002 over a spread-bet controversy involving Cheshire-based entrepreneur Paul "The Plumber" Davidson, but that cloud now appears to have well and truly disappeared. The Macclesfield-based, drugs-testing business believes it has found the formula for success, with sales in the first six months of 2005 rising 58 percent, from £890,000 to £1.4m. Gross profits rose 66 per cent to £1.22m.

Manchester Evening News (http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/business/s/170/170263_east_meets_west_as_cyprotex_customers.html)