The contract will generate more than $10m for Guided Therapeutics.

The contract calls for 450 LuVivas and 450,000 single-use Cervical Guides to be supplied by Guided Therapeutics over three and a half years beginning in the third quarter of 2015 and running through 2018.

The delivery schedule calls for 50 LuVivas and 50,000 disposables in the remainder of calendar year 2015 and 200 LuVivas and 200,000 disposables in calendar year 2016 with the remaining 200 LuVivas and 200,000 Cervical Guides evenly distributed over the last two years of the contract.

The MOH had previously indicated an order of 100 instruments and 100,000 Cervical Guides over the next 12 months, but has now increased the order size to 150 instruments and 150,000 Cervical Guides.

The new contract, which projects orders through the end of 2018, consolidates the previous MOH orders and provides the new delivery schedule through ITEM and its partner.

"This contract is a validation of LuViva’s promise to meet the healthcare needs of women by providing the first point-of-care test to cervical cancer screening," said Gene Cartwright, CEO of Guided Therapeutics.

LuViva is a technologically advanced diagnostic device that scans the cervix with light and uses spectroscopy to measure how light interacts with the cervical tissue. Spectroscopy identifies chemical and structural indicators of precancer that may be below the surface of the cervix or misdiagnosed as benign. This technique is called biophotonics.

Unlike Pap, HPV tests or biopsies, LuViva does not require laboratory analysis or a tissue sample, and is designed to provide results immediately, which may result in eliminating costly, painful and unnecessary additional testing.

LuViva is intended for use with women who have undergone initial screening and are called back for follow up with a colposcopy examination, which in many cases, involves taking a biopsy of the cervix.

It has also been used in clinical studies in Turkey and Nigeria as a means to screen women for cervical cancer where the availability of infrastructure necessary for Pap and HPV testing is restricted. The device is used in conjunction with the LuViva Cervical Guide single-use patient interface and calibration disposable.