MFIC has released its unaudited preliminary figures for 2006 ahead of its final results to be released in March, which also shows that the group's fourth quarter sales rose by 61 per cent to $5.0m.

MFIC is attempting to enter biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets where conventional processing technologies are still dominant, so this year's figures are showing that its penetration of these markets is increasing.

The company president, Robert Bruno, said that the financial results were mainly due to its best-selling microfluidics product, M-110EH-30 lab machine, which was introduced in 2005. The M-110EH-30 operates at 30,000 pounds per square inch (psi) process pressure and is recommended for immiscible liquid emulsions and solids-in-liquid suspensions.

Microfluidics is the study of fluids at volumes thousands of times smaller than a common droplet. It also concerns the design of systems in which such small volumes of fluids will be used.

Production of submicron and nanoparticles, necessary for an increasing number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications, requires easily reproducible processes that yield consistent and controllable product properties.

MFIC offers two levels of Microfluidiser material processors; laboratory and scale-up production units.

MFIC also conducts in-house product development programs in applications such as polymer nanoparticle production for delivery of potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) - including insoluble injectables and genetic therapeutic materials targeted to cells - and APIs in nanosuspensions for injection and for transdermal and oral formulations.