NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (GenomeWeb News) - Orchid BioSciences of Princeton, NJ, today announced a three-year contract with the London Metropolitan Police Service to provide scene-of-crime forensic DNA testing services.
The contract, procured by Orchid's European Cellmark business, is extendable for an additional two years and is expected to generate the equivalent of "several million dollars" annually in revenue, Orchid said in a statement.
Scene-of-crime forensic DNA testing is one of the holy grails of the DNA testing industry and is seen as a way to produce evidence that minimizes the possibility of contamination in labs or police evidence rooms.
The Metropolitan Police Services is the UK's largest poice force and is responsible for 20 percent of all forensic testing in England and Wales, Orchid said.