Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Shares in BATM Advanced Communications Ltd surged on Thursday after the company said it has entered into a collaboration with Novamed, an Israeli life sciences company, for the joint development and marketing of a rapid testing kit for home use for diagnosing Covid-19.
Shares in the company were up 46% at 45.95 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
The new kit allows people to test a sputum sample at home and receive results within a few minutes. The kit is for the identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019, or Covid-19.
BATM and Novamed anticipate the development of the kit to be completed within three to four months, after which, following the receipt of CE certification, the companies expect the kits to be available for sale first in Israel and then globally.
Hod Hasharon, Israel-based BATM also said that it is starting to ship its new diagnostic kit for Covid-19 that was developed by Adaltis for use by medical facilities.
Back in February, BATM said it had formed a venture with Italian medical diagonistics equipment maker Adaltis Srl to develop a Covid-19 testing kit for use by medical facilities.
"The initial customers are European, with delivery to Italy being the current focus. The group is preparing to ramp up production by the end of next week to meet existing orders and anticipated demand. All clinical testing to date has demonstrated the excellent performance of this kit, which provides results in under one hour on COVID-19 and other variants of coronavirus," BATM said on Thursday.
By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
