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But this then raises the question I posed- if they are just going to replace the antibody with another polyclonal one raised against Omicron it does not make the test either 'next generation' or more 'resilient' .
it may also mean it is potentially less sensitive for the other variants as this may be impacted by their binding to these S proteins (essentially the opposite of the current situation).

The vast majority of the other LFD's (and all of those used by HMG) depend on antibodies to N not S. There were relatively few changes to N in Omicron so you would not expect many of the current tests to be affected.
The UK did preliminary tests on the main tests used here before Christmas.
All of the talk about the impact to other LFD's by Omicron is a deflection.

'Ophidian (on Twitter) makes the point that the Affimer is unchanged'.
But just buying in a replacement antibody for the second binder would not warrant the comment from Avacta about a 'next generation test' that will be 'resilient' to future variants.
This implies selection for a binder(s) that binds to a conserved region - if they can do this easily - why have they not already done it during the past year (along with a backup test for N)?
So far, in almost two years, they appear to have just contributed a single Affimer to the LFD - with much of the rest of development seeming to be done by a range of third parties.
I had (incorrectly) assumed that they were using two Affimers - the use of an antibody in itself raises some questions-
Was it cost? (seems rather against the whole concept of Affimers)
Is the reason that the second binder is a polyclonal antibody? this would have the potential to utilise more binding sites for the detecting binder and hence give greater sensitivity? If so, going forward, will not just using a single Affimer/monoclonal (to a more targeted region) reduce sensitivity?
Any test will still need to detect Delta/Alpha - how easy will it be to get samples of these now? (most existing test will have already have been validated against these).
After their initial announcement that their test was OK with Omicron followed by one that it was not, I think that they need to hold an Investor Presentation with Q&A's so that retail investors can be clear about exactly what the company are intending to do and the time frame they anticipate to achieve it.

Don't propagate false information, It is a simultaneous infect with flu and SarsCov2, not some new virus.

Agreed CO- you have very clearly summarised exactly what I was thinking .
I am sure that when they released the ELISA test they said that they were using a pair of Affimers, the rns of May last year also indicates that they had multiple ones that bound specifically to SarsCov2.
I wonder at what point they switched to using an antibody and why, it rather goes against the rational for Affimers from the company that actually produces them!

In theory they already have them- but then why were they using an antibody?
May 2020-
'The Group recently reported that it had generated multiple, highly specific Affimer reagents that bind the SARS-COV-2 viral antigen and do not cross-react with SARS, MERS and other closely related coronaviruses. These Affimer reagents will be used to develop a point-of-care saliva based COVID-19 antigen test strip by Cytiva (formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences) for CE marking in Europe and FDA approval in the United States.'

If the theory that Omicron was a zoonotic infection from the recycling of Sar Cov2 back from rodents is correct, then we are likely to see new variants with lots of changes quite frequently....
The variant cited here though does not have the mutations that indicate it has followed this route (S-Q498H/R)

It may even have been that Omicron evolved in mice /rats and then moved back into humans.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.14.472632v1.full.pdf
WHO likes to say, because of the potential for evolution of variants, that no one is safe until the whole world is vaccinated. iIf we are going to also have to view the entire rodent population in this then it will be a long time coming....

Apologies -wrong link-
Should have been-
In vitro evolution predicts emerging CoV-2 mutations with high affinity for ACE2 and cross-species binding
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.23.473975v1.full

Some of the latest research indicates that mutations in Omicron mean that it is now able to infect rats (below).
If rats (and mice?) can then act as reservoirs for evolution of new variants there will be a lot of focus on controlling the rat populations - should be good for RTO.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC4836852/
'These mutations, already found in Omicron and other emerging CoV-2 variants, thus have the potential to both increase human transmissibility and extend these variants into rodent populations. Acquisition of mutations that enable CoV-2 to bind rat ACE2 is a cause of concern, as this has the potential to facilitate transmission of the virus to a species that is widespread and lives close to humans.'

I would even go further and say that heating the virions to deactivate them could, potentially, make some of the N tests appear more sensitive than they are in practice (by disrupting the binding between the N-N protein units beyond that resulting from the buffers).

Mowzerrocks- PD did appear to change things for the most recent tests when they checked for efficacy with Omicron- they used heat to deactivate the virus - this works by denaturing the proteins - which with regards the S protein would have a similar effect to freezing them......
Given that LFD's are intended for use on 'fresh' samples, not heated or frozen ones, then PD must ensure that all of their testing reflects this.

16.5 spike 20.5

Trading seems to have been going well -
In the Directorate change rns 13th Dec-
'Since its first quarter trading update, announced on 14 October, the Group has continued to see strong trading momentum and will update the market further in its second quarter trading update on 13 January 2022.'

Share buyback seems to have finished/halted - they have purchased just over 700k shares for circa £9.5M, on the positive side they were purchasing them when the price was supressed (average price was 1364)

But the full report also said -
'In broad terms, our estimates suggest that individuals who have received at least 2 doses of either AZ or PF/MD vaccine remain substantially protected against hospitalisation, even if protection against infection has been largely lost against the Omicron variant (4,5).'
On the basis of this I started buying again, including DNLM.

They did monitor flu and the vaccines in the same way pre covid !
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/775384/Weekly_national_influenza_report_week_5_2019.pdf

Because they can look at the incidence of infection with Omicron from people who have had their booster that long ago.
Note this is catching not hospitalisations.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1043608/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week_51.pdf
See page 15

I had been looking for an opportunity to get back in but never seemed to have the cash when needed, the pullback was good for me this time - it has bounced quickly as well.

I have topped up again.
The paper from Imperial is positive-
'In broad terms, our estimates suggest that individuals who have received at least 2 doses of either AZ or PF/MD vaccine remain substantially protected against hospitalisation, even if protection against infection has been largely lost against the Omicron variant '
A primary AZ course may even be slightly better than PF at preventing hospitalisations (although the data is limited ).
The paper also mentions that AZ and JJ are the main vaccines used in S.Africa and seem to have been effective, the later maps to the point I made about the US.

They have acquired two more companies since the Q3 trading update- these are expected to add more than $12M to revenues going forward.
I am quite excited as to what the company will deliver once all of the various acquisitions they have made in the past couple of years have become imbedded and the main impact of covid is behind them.