Glitches, disappointments and a proclivity for burning cash, has seen optical surgery laser maker CustomVis scorch a trail from its 92p float price (in 2003) all the way down to a microscopic 4.13p. But it claims to now be receiving more interest than it can handle.

The Perth based company, led by New Zealander Dr Paul van Saarloos, has now treated some 6,000 eyes, providing enough clinical data to reassure surgeons who became nervous in the old days when CustomVis had ‘teething problems’. Market opinion seems to be coming round to the idea, based on the superiority of the product over existing competition, and a 15th laser was sold in September.

'Solid state’ lasers, which are the basis of CustomVis’ Pulzar Z1 laser, are superior to the prevalent ‘excimer’ lasers, which use corrosive fluorine gas that can require annual replacement of parts. Excimer lasers also take over an hour to warm up and need a trained technician to start them up, but the Pulzar does not need either and van Saarloos claims it ‘can do 50% more operations an hour’ than its competitors. This is a major selling point to small eye clinics, and two of the first four customers have come back for seconds.

Now that the laser has been proved to work well, things are looking up, says van Saarloos: ‘demand for the product has boomed at a rate we are struggling to keep up with.’ A four-month production process is currently holding the company back and van Saarloos want to be producing three lasers a month ’by March’. A fundraising in October last year pulled in £1.47 million at 5.75p, but another may be due soon. Results are out next week.

If the company could gear up production to three per month, it would totally turn the business around. The prospect of US FDA approval (around a two-year process) provides additional long-term spice but this is only for gamblers at the moment.