PharmAust's (ASX:PAA) wholly owned subsidiary Mimotopes has signed a three-year contract with California-based Invitrogen to exclusively supply research-grade peptides to the global biotech group's customer base.

"With the exception of the territory of Japan, where they have a pre-existing relationship, we are their exclusive provider for the rest of the world," said PharmAust managing director Paul D'Sylva.

D'Sylva said that the deal with Invitrogen was worth millions of dollars, but could not reveal the exact figure.

"Invitrogen is a $4 billion Nasdaq-listed company," said D'Sylva. "They supply every major laboratory in the world with life science R&D products. Peptides are one of the products that they supply and now wherever peptides are ordered, in all the labs that they sell into, Mimotopes will be providing those peptides."

D'Sylva said Mimotopes had increased capacity at its Melbourne facility over the last few months as well as securing an outsourcing partner in China to meet demand. "We're committed to growing the business both to meet Invitrogen and its growing demands, as well as our other clients," said D'Sylva.

PharmAust's shares increased by nearly 20 per cent yesterday to $0.185 on the back of the announcement, up from $0.155 the day before. Today the company's shares were down $0.005 and trading at $0.18 at the time of writing.