Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Let’s hope that Tristan gives the thumbs up before he flies off to Portugal with Gary on their honeymoon this afternoon.
The RNS refers to the CE mark required for sale in Europe but makes no mention of the new UKCA mark which is required for UK sale post Brexit. So to my mind that would indicate that Avacta is still adhering to an NDA that relates to the sovereign test where AffiDX must now be the front runner. News on that front must be imminent.
Well I didn’t get an answer to my two questions last time around and they are just as valid now as then:
Question 1:
When can we expect to receive CE and FDA regulatory approval for the LFT and BAMS tests for COVID-19? Please give an estimated date not ‘soon’ or any of its other variants.
Question 2:
Has our involvement with the Condor programme helped or hindered our speed to market?
So what’s the point in asking again?
I’m surprised no one’s commented on this PR release just issued. It mentions ODX and GAD both of which have been mentioned as potential licensed manufacturers of Avacta’s Affimer-based formula . It’s got to be us surely?
‘The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has agreed contracts with Omega Diagnostics, headquartered in Alva in Clackmannanshire, and Global Access Diagnostics, based in Thurleigh, to provide manufacturing capacity for up to 200 million tests COVID-19 lateral flow antigen tests which detect positive cases quickly – in under 30 minutes – meaning positive cases can isolate immediately, breaking chains of transmission.’
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-to-partner-with-clackmannanshire-test-manufacturer
News article from the Sunday Times: ‘At least 20,000 fans will be allowed into the FA Cup final as a test event for the return of supporters under government plans, it can be revealed.
Ministers have confirmed that the final at Wembley Stadium has been earmarked as one of the pilot sport events to pave the way for the return of big crowds this summer, including at football’s Euro 2020 tournament, Wimbledon tennis and cricket matches involving England and the new limited-overs competition The Hundred.
The World Snooker Championships at The Crucible in Sheffield will also be used as a pilot for indoor sports events.
Fans going to the FA Cup final and the snooker will have to return a negative lateral flow test and will be tested again after the event. The idea is that will mean they will not need to comply with social distancing.
Under the government’s roadmap for the phased return to normal life out of the Covid-19 pandemic, crowds of up to 10,000 will be permitted from May 17. Restrictions will be eased further from June 21, though it is unclear when full stadiums will be allowed again.
The FA Cup final is taking place on May 15, two days before the first date for fans to be allowed back, but its status as a pilot event means it can have spectators there as well. They are also expected to be in greater numbers, at least 20,000, as the idea is to plan for the return of supporters in larger numbers in stage four of the roadmap from June 21.
There are seven Euro 2020 matches taking place at Wembley and five of these are after June 21 including both semi-finals and the final. Uefa, which runs the tournament, is hoping that the 90,000-seat stadium can be half-full for the climax to the competition.
Mark Bullingham, the FA chief executive, said: “Football is not the same without fans so we’re delighted Wembley is being considered for potential test events. We would love to be able to welcome fans back to the home of English football ahead of what is set to be a great summer of sport.’
https://apple.news/ARKRyBbKEQ8-aQm4mC3DTCQ
Wow - once we have cv and the CE mark the orders will be huge!
You know those Moonpig cards where you can create a newspaper with personalised headings? Well my suggestion for the front page would be ‘Deeks says world is flat!’
DHSC has just published a set of criteria for validating lateral flow devices:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/lateral-flow-validation-prioritisation-criteria-for-rapid-diagnostic-assays-for-specific-sars-cov-2-antigens
So what happened to the Invitation to Tender OJEU notice for the supply of LFTs published on TED on 29th December? The timetable indicated that it would be awarded due for early February and the recent court rulings would indicate that the results should be published about now. After all the shenanigans with setting up hurdles with Condor, Falcon etc have they moved the goal posts yet again?
Check out the charts:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-england-statistics-28-january-to-3-february-2021/weekly-statistics-for-rapid-asymptomatic-testing-28-january-to-3-february-2021
You know that contributor who, using keyboard characters, posts a picture of a large rocket ship which subsequently fails to materialise? Is there any chance he could post one of a head banging itself against a wall?
Try this the admission document: https://www.abingdonhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/259968_Project_Albion_Web.pdf
My couple of buys this morning were well timed......
In my experience the most successful response to a major government ‘Invitation to Tender’ is likely to be made by a consortium of companies each bringing their specialist expertise to the party. If Avacta, BBI, Abingdon and Omega were to combine together to make a joint ‘sovereign’ tender tomorrow which brings together high performance LFTs based upon Affimer technology, production capacity and supply chain expertise then it’s a slam dunk to sharing orders worth £912m every 2 months and the opportunity to deliver sub contracted services to a global market.
How the government assesses offers of COVID-19 tests from developers for procurement and use in the UK.
Change made:
Updated ‘National technical validation process for manufacturers of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) tests’ to clarify the procurement process and to reflect the number of technologies currently in the TVG pipeline.
Time updated:
12:32pm, 11 January 2021
The big question is whether the award criteria has been changed to give weight to S&S accuracy? Since the delivery date began two days ago perhaps the winning bidder/s have already been selected and notified.
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned today but have you seen this? It’s a resumption of the tender with delivery starting two days ago:
http://bidstats.uk/tenders/2020/W51/741147228
Although there was no mention of Abingdon Health in the most recent RNS, it would appear from Doncaster News that they have antigen tests in development with three customers as well as the 1 million AbC-19 rapid antibody LFT tests the government ordered from the UK Rapid Test Consortium in October. Could Avacta be one of the three and the timing of the flotation geared to an announcement in the next couple of days?
‘Abingdon Health is set to float on AIM on 15 December 2020. The company's expected market capitalisation on admission is £91.9m and its set to raise £22m from the flotation.
Alongside the Covid-19 test, Abingdon Health is also working with three customers to transfer their Covid-19 antigen tests to manufacture, and is manufacturing a component of a rapid PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test.’
Here’s a video of how it works:
https://bbisolutions.com/en/services/reader-technology/novarum-dx.html
Weren’t we expecting Condor to release information about the SS for 6 LFTs today?