Ahura says growth due to demand for portable, handheld spectrometers

Nov. 6, 2008

NOVEMBER 6, 2008 -- Ahura Scientific (Wilmington, MA) today announced a corporate milestone: shipment of 2000 chemical identification devices. Ahura says the achievement follows increasing demand for its award-winning Raman spectroscopy-based FirstDefender and TruScan instruments, and its newest product, TruDefender FT, based on Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Ahura shipped its first product in May 2005; pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca PLC purchased the 2000th unit.

NOVEMBER 6, 2008 -- Ahura Scientific (Wilmington, MA), developer of rugged, ultra-compact handheld instruments for chemical identification, today announced a corporate milestone: shipment of 2000 chemical identification units. Ahura says the achievement follows increasing demand for its award-winning Raman spectroscopy-based FirstDefender and TruScan instruments, and its newest product, TruDefender FT, based on Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.

Ahura shipped its first product in May 2005; AstraZeneca PLC, the pharmaceuticals company based in France, purchased the 2000th unit. AstraZeneca is using the TruScan handheld for identification of incoming raw materials used in drug manufacture.

"The handheld and portable molecular spectroscopy market has rapidly developed over the past two years, and should see very strong growth for the foreseeable future," noted Stuart Press, Vice President, Strategic Analysis at Strategic Directions International, Inc. "Ahura Scientific has positioned itself as one of the leading companies in this new and very dynamic segment of the analytical instrument market."

Since 2002, Ahura Scientific has designed, developed and successfully launched a number of products. The company says it puts the power, reliability and accuracy of expensive, lab-based instruments in portable, rugged, easy-to-use systems designed for real-time use in the field.

Ahura Scientific and its executives have received numerous awards, including the Ernst and Young 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year award (for Founder and President Dr. Daryoosh Vakhshoori); R&D Magazine's R&D 100; the Industrial Design Society of America Award (IDEA) for Excellence in Industrial Design; the 2007 SBANE Innovation Award; the Boston Business Journal's 2008 Best Places to Work Award; the 2008 American Business Award for "Most Innovative Company." Most recently, the company was named number 65 on Inc. magazine's Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies of 2008 list.

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