(Alliance News) - Avacta Group PLC on Monday announced it has entered a commercial partnership with Mologic Ltd to accelerate to market Avacta's AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow rapid antigen test.
The Wetherby, England-based pre-clinical stage biotechnology company said the partnership will provide the AffiDX antigen test a faster route to market by giving it a CE marking for professional use under rapid diagnostics firm Mologic's ISO13485 quality system. The CE mark will be transferred to Avacta once it receives ISO13485 accreditation, which is expected by the end of March.
Shares in Avacta were up 9.4% at 139.50 pence in London on Monday.
Avacta said the partnership will provide additional manufacturing capacity through Mologic and its partner Global Access Diagnostics, in addition to manufacturing capacity with BBI and Abingdon Health. "Combined, these manufacturing partnerships will deliver several millions of tests per month, and potentially much higher with further investment," it said.
"The partnership provides Avacta with a low risk route to CE marking our rapid antigen test during the first quarter ahead of achieving our own ISO13485 accreditation. I am also delighted that this collaboration provides an opportunity for Avacta to support antigen testing in low and middle income countries through Mologic's international manufacturing links," said Chief Executive Alastair Smith.
In addition, Avacta said the partnership also provides a framework agreement for future development of a pipeline of tests in a range of disease areas, with the possibility of combining Avacta's spike antigen test with Mologic's nucleocapsid antigen-based technology in a single lateral flow device.
"A hybrid antigen test such as this is expected to be a world first and has the potential to deliver an extremely sensitive lateral flow coronavirus antigen test," it added.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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