BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The radiation and medical technology group Eckert & Ziegler has secured a major order from the USA. The order is for the delivery of carrier-free lutetium-177 to the US company Point Biopharma. The agreement has a term of ten years with a total sales volume of more than 100 million euros, Eckert & Ziegler announced on Tuesday night. The news was very well received on the stock exchange.

The shares of the SDax company made double-digit gains at times in the morning, and by midday the increase was 9.6 percent. The share thus made up considerable ground after a loss-making September. For the year as a whole, it reduced its loss to around 30 percent.

The contract is still subject to the condition that the substance produced by Eckert & Ziegler proves suitable for the preparation envisaged by Point. Assuming that the U.S. company receives marketing approval for its products, the Germans then expect "substantial earnings" as early as this year.

According to the announcement, Point has several lutetium-177-based clinical development candidates, including one for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. To expand its manufacturing capacity, Eckert & Ziegler plans to invest around ten million euros in its own Wilmington site in the US state of Massachusetts. Point and Eckert & Ziegler had previously worked together.

Eckert & Ziegler had recently come under pressure because, among other things, capacity expansions and currency effects had a negative impact on earnings. In the current fiscal year, the Executive Board expects sales of just under 230 million euros and net income of around 25 million euros./jcf/lew/men