The government has unquestionably done a marvellous job with vaccinations.
However one area where I'm a little less convinced, relates to its covid testing strategy. Here it encouraged many domestic UK firms to develop world-beating RLFTs, which has happened. Only then to seemingly back-track, cancel contracts (eg Omega Diagnostics) & opt instead for mostly overseas suppliers (eg Chinese or US).
Today came news that – following trials in Madrid -Avacta’s world beating, user friendly & highly accurate RLFT has able to correctly identify the Omicron variant in clinical samples. This is in addition to all previously identified variants of concern (Re WHO).
CEO Alastair Smith adding “We are delighted to confirm that [our] AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test detects the Omicron variant.
We are progressing with our application to the CTDA in order to [sell] the product in the UK, as well as continuing to pursue commercial opportunities in Europe & further afield for professional-use. [On top] we continue to work with Medusa19.com to obtain the CE mark for consumer self-testing.
”Elsewhere, also watch out for the release of initial pk data wrt Avacta’s Phase 1 clinical trial of Prodoxorubicin/AVA6000 – expected sometime over the next month or so.
