A US digital imaging company involved in tackling breast cancer plans to locate the majority of its RD operations in Ireland.

Bioptics Inc, based in Tucson, Arizona, is also looking to open a sales office for its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea) in Ireland.

Kingspan co-founder Eugene Murtagh and his son, Paul, who is based in the US, have emerged as the controlling shareholders of the company.

They recently appointed Dr Hugh Cormican, founder of Northern Ireland specialist imaging group Andor Technology, to the post of chief executive.

Bioptics is involved in the development and manufacturing of digital X-ray machines for the medical sector. Specifically, it is making machines that allow medical staff to perform mammographies and core biopsies - where tissue samples are taken with a small needle. The machines will also allow specimen radiography, which allows medical staff to examine biopsies on the spot in order to confirm first whether there is cancerous tissue and secondly that the entire lesion has been removed.

The company has spent $5 million (€3.4 million) since its foundation in 2001, developing the technology at the heart of its digital X-ray machines and is confident that it will streamline procedures to identify and tackle early-stage breast cancer - saving significant resources in terms of both time and money, as well as reducing the time patients have to wait for confirmation of results.

Bioptics first started selling its machines in 2006. While it has been operating largely in the US, it did secure a contract last year from the National Breast Screen Programme to supply specimen radiography equipment to BreastCheck clinics across the State .

Dr Cormican said yesterday that the company was in the process of making the transition from an RD start-up to a manufacturer of the specialised equipment.

Last year, the company generated sales of $3.3 million (more than doubling its figure from 2006).

The company says its target is to achieve compound annual sales growth in excess of 50 per cent over the next five years, with revenues projected to exceed $60 million by 2012.

The company said yesterday that it was launching a series of new products before the end of the year that it hopes will give it a significant foothold in the rapidly expanding market for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Dr Cormican said Bioptics would begin marketing a new machine designed to "optimise breast biopsy procedures" next month. Bioptics says the machine has potential to earn revenues of $25 million in what is estimated by 2010 to be a $300 million market.

It also expects to begin selling a new specimen radiography product before the end of the year and says that has the potential to snap up to half of what it expects will be a $70 million market.

The introduction next year of a digital replacement for existing film-based mammography screening equipment, however, is seen as the most significant opportunity for the company. By 2010, mammography is expected to be a €1.8 billion business worldwide. A spokesman for Bioptics says that its technology could help it take a $350 million slice of that market.

The company is moving to new, larger premises during the autumn but is also scouting for an RD base in Ireland. A spokesman for the company had not yet decided whether this would be in the North or South.

While the Murtaghs have built Kingspan into an international business from its Cavan base, the appointment of Dr Cormican raises the possibility of siting Irish operations north of the Border.

Dr Cormican was one of the founders of Andor Technologies in Belfast - a company spun out of Queen's University.

Dr Cormican led the company from its foundation in 1989 and through a stock-market listing before resigning as chief executive in August 2006. He stood down from the board in September last year. However, Dr Cormican still holds a significant shareholding in Andor, currently subject of a £21.8 million (€27.5 million) management buy-out bid from a team led by the present chief executive, Conor Walsh.

The Murtaghs also own a 3.77 per cent stake in the company through their vehicle, Carraig Capital. The "related party holdings" now account for 12.42 per cent of Andor's stock compared to 2.1 per cent for the MBO vehicle Thorndale.

Apart from the Murtagh investment, the major listed shareholder in Bioptics is Bancroft Capital.