The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Agent B. I’ve just had lunch with a journalist from a national in this space. Believe me but there is zero sense or knowledge around this subject. In some ways it’s not surprising, albeit it’s just been one of the most important matters in our country’s recent history.
I can’t say who it is but I’ll put a version of the bundle together tomorrow and send. Fingers X it will be timely and gather some steam. I’ve offered a scoop on another matter once and if it’s run with.
I do actually know why, just thought they were useful additional points. Maybe not.
Great effort anyway, Heroic even.
Two things that should be included.
Cost - Molo head honcho said, "Our test is the best in da world" and more pertinent "It cost a quarter the price" GOV is paying INNOVA!
Why are UK taxpayers buying useless tests at an exorbitant price, from a pop-up shell company.
And - GOV revised required spec for qualifying tests for consideration. The change to anterior nasal requirement set us back months, whilst GOV is busying itself changing INNOVA test use case (from nasopharyngeal) rewriting instructions and approving home use for this substandard test.
Why?
well, unless this brings down the govt, I am not sure exactly how it helps. Is it not similar to Dom Cum expose of how BJ rates Handy? Apparently he can't be sacked now without showing up BJ for being equally useless? Now the safest of all Cabinet Ministers apparently.
Still, lets have million posts on this and make sure we don't clog up the board with stuff that is of no relevance....
I have sent versions of your letter to ALL the BBC Health Reporters, the Labour Shadow Health Minister and Labour's leader Kier Starmer .. I am sure something will happen... But I don't know what.
Thanks AgentB,
I have sent a letter to Mr Crispin Blunt, my MP. It is titled;
Scandal regarding the rapid lateral flow Covid-19 antigen tests that are the cornerstone of the UK’s mass testing programme.
I used your information and sources. In some small way, I hope it has some leverage/change of attitude. We will see ..
I wouldn’t even mention Avacta. Just mention there are British based developers with the capacity to manufacture in the U.K. The rest is obvious
Although I agree with all the anger and resentment about this, my main concern is stepping on AS's toes with hobnail boots (however well intentioned), I am sure that he is well aware of what's being going on (more so than us PI's)and is finding his own way through to a better outcome for Avacta! Beware of unintended consequences! Getting HMG's back up will not necessarily help us. Let's at least wait til Monday to see what AS has to say, we might be pleasantly surprised!
UTTER CORRUPTION and almost complete destruction of the sovereign British testing industry to date.
Great points TEMPLAR, thanks for sharing
Short version:
Late Sep/early October the UK Government told Avacta they no longer wanted a saliva test.
19 Oct ....UK Government 1st order of £138m Chinese Innova tests.
15 Dec...BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL confirms Chinese Innova test is utter rubbish stating that it detected " just 48.89% of covid-19 infections in asymptomatic people"
16 Dec onwards.....UK Government continues to order BILLIONS of pounds these PROVEN to be absolutely sh*t Chinese tests to date.
Don't forget to include Anne Robinson of she's still on watchdog and the ex policeman chap, raj?
Fantastic work Agent B et Al.
A very big THANKYOU.
One important question I would like to add.
The UK Governnent initially had saliva testing as the No1 preferred type of LFT test last year but then told AVCT in "late September/ early October" that they had changed their mind,even though AVCT said they had developed a successful Saliva test,and moved the saliva test from No1 to No4 out of 4, then started the IMMEDIATE award of the massive contracts to the sh*t Chinese tests sold by Innova.
Avacta Presentation and Q&A
https://www.youtube.com/embed/QKc7VuKzP1Y
Q&A session
51 mins 18 seconds
Q...Why did the saliva test fail ?
A..."It didn't fail. We took a decision not to progress the saliva test for several reasons" including "in late September/early October we got the saliva test working as well as the anterior nasal test working the UK Governmemt moved away from saliva testing " for various reasons, none of which included the first £138m Innova order just 2-3 weeks later on 19 Oct 2020.
Then, on 15 DEC 2020...The British Medical Journal reports that "Innova detects just 48.89% of covid-19 infections in asymptomatic people when compared with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test"
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4848
Even though our own highly respected BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL confirmed the Chinese Innova test was utterly useless they still went ahead and ordered BILLIONS OF POUNDS of completely useless tests in which "just 48.89% of covid-19 infections in asymptomatic people" were caught leading to half the UK population wandering around thinking they were OK when they were not leading to hundreds more deaths, thousands of hospitalisations and the continued shut down of the UK economy costing Billions of pounds.
This Government is corrupt and guilty of negligence on a massive scale and needs a FULL Public Enquiry into why they dropped all the UK LFT testing industry just days/weeks before they started spending BILLIONS on a Chinese test in which they KNEW was only 48.89% effective in picking up covid-19 infections in asymptomatic people then continued to order them even when the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL confirmed they were utterly useless.
UK Government £3 billion Innova order history:
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/?q=%22Innova+medical+group%22#753139711-737214508-57
CORRUPTION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS.
PEOPLE NEED TO GO TO JAIL.
For me this is out and out corruption and a Public Enquiry should be held into why the UK Government
Dear All, I've already sent a version to Andrew Neil, but have reworked the sources for anyone wanting to use RNmyS ending (which I like very much.)
Sources:
1 Expenditure on Innova tests: https://bidstats.uk/tenders/?q=lateral+flow+test
2 NHS rebranding of tests https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9127345/UK-coronavirus-Department-Health-rebranding-professional-use-kit-self-test.html
3 Gov rewrites test instructions (See question 21) https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/12/C0964-lft-in-primary-care-faqs-v2-jan-2021.pdf
4 MHRA decision overridden https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/719170/response/1768848/attach/4/MHRA%20Letter%20DHSC%20COVID%2019%20Self%20Test%2022122020%20Redacted.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1
5 Performance of Innova Tests: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4469
6 Innova test fails to identify cases: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/12/C0964-lft-in-primary-care-faqs-v2-jan-2021.pdf
7 FDA recall of Innova tests: https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1514
8 Heidelberg studies https://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/en/diagnostics-global-health
9 MHRA extends EUA for Innova tests: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/following-a-satisfactory-review-mhra-extends-authorisation-of-nhs-test-and-trace-lateral-flow-devices
10 Mologic to sue Government: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/06/14/covid-test-maker-mologic-set-sue-government-stonewalling/
11 Novacyte legal action
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/NCYT/dhsc-dispute-update-6xq0nnxm1m5ofnx.html
12 Abingdon payment distpute
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ABDX/trading-update-jbwvd5gxcoaylpw.html
13Performance of Mologic tests: https://www.finddx.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Mologic_Ag-Public-Report_v1.2-20210615.pdf
14 Performance of Avacta tests: https://avacta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Brochure-15 Avacta warning regarding Porton Down: (See page 55) https://avacta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Avacta-ARA-2020.pdf
Thanks Mr Adventurous, a couple of silly errors from me, I'll make some adjustments to my contribution and reshare "shortly"...
Sensitivity is to do with giving a positive if someone has it, i.e. is it able to detect very low levels of the virus.
Specificity is to do with whether the tests gives a negative even if there are lots of other similar molecules present the sample.
I've rejigged the final part, use or discard as you wish:
In bending the rules for Innova, the Government has failed to support the UK based diagnostics industry and appears to be holding up the development and validation of UK made lateral flow antigen tests. This can be evidenced by the actions of Mologic, a Beford-based diagnostics company, who have taken steps to launch legal proceedings against the Government for "stonewalling" the validation of their test 12. Furthermore, the government is also facing legal action from the Anglo-French company Novacyt for breaching their PCR testing contract with the DHSC (source) and are also in a pay dispute with the test manufacturer Abbingdon Health (source).
This is significant as our government claimed their top priority was and is the procurement of a sovereign test and supply chain, along with the support of the UK diagnostics industry. However, they are now being publicly ousted by the very industry they claimed to be supporting while continuing to ignore British innovation.
In the UK we have accurate lateral flow antigen tests. Both Mologic Ltd, alongside Whetherby-based Avacta Life Sciences have developed highly accurate, near-perfect tests which are far superior to the current NHS boxed, FDA banned, Innova test.
Mologic = Specificity 100%, Sensitivity 96.4%10
Avacta AffiDX = Specificity 99% and Sensitivity 100% 11
While these test numbers are impressive, the validation issues at Porton Down speak for themselves. As I noted, Mologic are now seeking legal action for stonewalling and Avacta have now warned their shareholders that Porton Down's procedures may affect the company's chances of winning any UK governmental contract 13.
This certainly is a scandal involving billions of UK taxpayer pounds. I implore you to look further into this story and give it the attention it deserves.
Michelle Dewberry May 2020
@MichelleDewbs
For efficiency/cost/ease, we really need to be leveraging ‘instant’ point of care tests (think along lines of pregnancy tests) rather than uncomfortable swabs
Hope @MattHan****
@JimBethell
are in talks with @avacta
who are working on a test which is a game changer #avct #avacta
May be worth sending to Michelle Dewbury GB News as she and her hubby Simon Jordan have mentioned Avacta on twitter before i think both have invested. Anyway good call to ping to Andrew Neil.
Some people warn against encouraging criticism of Innova LFT's, citing that it causes collateral damage to LFT's in general. I don't take that view. I think the greater the stink that can be created around the Innova test, the better. The most important thing right now, is to put the govt under as much pressure as possible regarding the 'not fit for purpose' Innova LFT. The DT article posted earlier being a great example.
Sure, they'll be collateral damage, but I think we should cross the 'differentiation' bridge when we've finally got Innova taken off the table. It wouldn't take much of marketing genius to differentiate new/good LFT's from the rubbish that we've had to put up with. We might have to lose this small battle to win the bigger war.
Great work. But should we wait to see what Monday brings. I think we may be surprised and the presentation may give us more ammunition
Could make it very easy for us all, put on a letter head, upload and we all send to our local MP's on mass this weekend.
Agent B how about a really short version for the mega busy Andrew
LFT SCANDAL investigate INNOVA CONTRACT
Good work Agent, 'M' will be pleased.
Nice work.
Important I think, to be clear that LFTs are not bad, only bad LFTs and bad usage is bad.
A simple to use, highly accurate LFT is still a powerful tool against Covid, and guess what, the UK leads in such a beast..................