Member Info for AgentB

Pump up the energy!

Well ‘doh’ sounds like Captain Hindsight just had a lightbulb moment!

TallPaul, I’m interested to know what exactly the MP for Wetherby has said to you. It’s on his watch and difficult to believe that the Alba party MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is a better advocate for the U.K. diagnostics industry than an MP who has such a gem as Avacta in his constituency!

Don’t worry doze, I’m sure some philanthropist somewhere will step in to assist with funding.

@CO, I was planning to look at S&S levels tomorrow. I spotted a few that looked awful in passing, but I was really just looking at country of origin.

I have just done a bit of analysis of the tests that have passed through Porton Down successfully. Since Sept 2020, (starting with the dreaded Innova) 33 tests have been approved, 16 of them Chinese. (That is to say I managed to find a link to a Chinese manufacturer even if sometimes well hidden and difficult to do so.)

The Government Consultation regarding private COVID-19 testing validation ended on 5th May. Since then, Porton Down has gone into overdrive, approving 14 tests, 8* of them from China (*I'm a bit dubious about Belfast-based Biopanda but I can't find a China link other than the word Panda - which they presumably used to help get their Porton Down approval).

UK companies in the list include Fortress Diagnostics (Antrim), Surescreen (Derby), Mediport (Newhaven) and Hughes (Sandbach) (Is Hughes actually American?)

So it seems to me that there has been a mad rush to get approval while the frozen pig spit & brown envelope validation technique is still in vogue.

I did also find it strange that the Chinese MHRA Director of Licensing Dr Siu Ping Lam does not appear on the MHRA Inspectorate & Process Licensing Organogram. https://mhrainspectorate.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/151/2021/05/Organogram-Inspectorate-Apr-2021.pdf. It's almost like he's been hidden.....hmmmm

The test uses gold immunonanoparticle technology to enable the visual detection of bound antigen via a control line and a red line on the test strip when a saliva sample is positive for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen.

I was wondering where I had heard of gold nanoparticles before. Tracked it down to Abingdon and ABCAM. https://www.abingdonhealth.com/gold-nanoparticles-custom-conjugation/

I presume there is no IP for gold nanoparticles? Anyway, they sound expensive : “A single milligram of gold nanoparticles currently costs about $80 (depending on the size of the nanoparticles). That places the price of gold nanoparticles at $80,000 per gram while a gram of pure, raw gold goes for about $50.”

https://news.usc.edu/92312/heres-a-way-to-produce-nanomaterials-on-a-larger-scale/

“If the honourable gentleman knows of any U.K. companies that are worth looking into, either in his constituency or elsewhere, please let my department know”. I assume this means that the MP for Whetherby hasn’t had access to the VIP email track?

https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=AVCT&share=Avacta&page=36&thread=84EC77AB-FA52-4C90-8523-88F43002D332

This research paper was discussed when it was published and an RNS was anticipated next day. Nothing. AS must surely monitor these boards so he would have seen that shareholders thought it was worthy of comment.

Desired
Sputum, saliva or other method not using invasive swab

So non invasive (AN) swab also falls into the ‘Desired’ category.

AS often refers to Anterior Nares as non-invasive, so I think that settles that one.

Meanwhile I was just reminding myself about Sir John Bell - another one with the stench of corruption about him
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8776339/Test-tsar-770-000-shares-firm-sold-13million-pointless-antibody-screening-kits.html

Wasn't it the government who "encouraged" Avacta to move away from saliva tests?

Yes, Professor John Bell and “hamburgergate”.

Updated 17 June 2021
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-tests-and-testing-kits-for-coronavirus-covid-19-work/target-product-profile-point-of-care-sars-cov-2-detection-tests

Sample type
Desired
Sputum, saliva or other method not using invasive swab

Acceptable
Nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs, lower respiratory tract aspirates, bronchoalveolar lavage, nasopharyngeal wash/aspirate or nasal aspirate

Comment
Methods not using invasive swabs are desirable due to patient discomfort, pre-analytical errors and issues with supply chain.

Unless the Saliva comes from pigs, of course, in which case it’ll get through Porton Down regardless of what’s in the swill!

Yes, according to Dominic Cummings, this is the method Boris used to get himself a pass for Wimbledon!

We are 100% sensitive up to CT 27 but only 99% specific and if you look at the Avacta product spec for AffiDX, it quotes 98%/99%
https://avacta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Brochure-Type-00901-SC2-Product-Specification-Sheet-v2-ID-33989.pdf
Added to which, hasn’t the gov now switched back to saliva as preferred sampling method?
I’m about to look up all the directors to see who was at Eaton or in the Bullingdon Club with Boris.

The test has demonstrated 100 per cent sensitivity in testing 150 positive clinical samples - with a Ct range of 18.0 to 28.0 - and 100 per cent specificity following tests with 250 negative clinical saliva samples confirmed by PCR tests.

I wonder what their manufacturing capacity and distribution plans look like.

It’s a shame that the thread started by Investor110 has been hijacked. I have just been reading the Hansard report on the Lords debate. It’s great to see that Lord Bethell (Minister for Innova) was given a hard time. Also interesting is the concern that the Chinese tests may have been manufactured using Uighur slave labour. If the MSM had picked up on that one, we could have got rid of Innova a lot quicker!

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2021-07-20/debates/C413DBD0-3C6A-4740-99D7-A5E160D8713C/MedicalDevices(CoronavirusTestDeviceApprovals)(Amendment)Regulations2021

Great research 110! After reading the other thread on here, I thought the legislation wouldn’t even begin it’s journey through Parliament until Sept. This is much more encouraging.