RE: Bathroom cupboard3 Jun 2021 15:41
@Wyndham - If you have at look at the FT article I posted this morning, the example UK use case is as you describe: surge testing in areas of outbreaks.
FWIW I think you are partly right on mass-testing: while the device is designed for population level screening, I suspect at this stage of the vaccine roll-out that it will be used that way on a local, rather than national, level at least in the UK.
However, vaccine take-up won't be universal here, and there is still the high potential for outbreaks - and variants - for as long as the rest of the world remains largely unvaccinated; so I imagine use for surge testing will be frequent for quite some time. Then there is rapid screening of hospital/care home admissions, air travel, larger corporate workforce's etc. Plus after the last year, I imagine the Government will want to keep a pretty substantial stockpile in reserve.
Leaving aside Western states and consumer markets: with the rest of the world, the issue for many poorer countries is not that they cannot afford vaccines or tests, but there is inadequate supply.
The LFT may not be used for mass testing in these countries, but at less than 1/10th of the cost of PCR, it could certainly displace lab-based approaches across these healthcare systems.
Bare in mind we are partnered with GAD - whose raison d'etre is provision of low-cost diagnostics to these countries - and who themselves are supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It's not inconceivable the WHO, Gates Fdn, etc would bulk purchase as part of aid packages for those countries unable to directly purchase themselves.
All in all I think the demand on a global scale will be off the charts, even if we have missed peak demand in the UK.
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