The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6986956224848113664/
Could actually be happening with TATA
https://twitter.com/NovacytGroup/status/1580854679977701376
Sounds interesting!
12 years ago (pretty much to the day), I started my role at IT-IS International and fell in love with the company, the team and the vision for the future.
Acquisition by Novacyt and the rollercoaster of COVID showed that the company could deliver where others fell by the wayside to lead the fight against COVID with the first test available to allow informed choices and to save lives.
Yesterday I accepted a new role and today was my first day as Site Lead and I'm excited to drive the company to what it's capable of.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-ward-45070b64/
To be fair, Guillermo was from South America and I was always a bit dubious and uncomfortable with his appointment, he was appointed at the height of the pandemic. Also, Head of Global Marketing is not the same as Chief Commercial Officer.
Many are quick to criticise David, however Rome was not built in a day (or 11 Months), he's been busy clearing the decks, whilst unfortunately demand for COVID testing fell from a cliff, fortunately David has been building a new team and has twelve new products to be launched during Q4. I guess Tobias did his due diligence before joining the company and liked what he could see.
Although there appears to have been a number of people finishing at the end of August, there's also a number of new starters at the beginning of September.
Most notable:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-hampshire-phd-b0b1431a/
B2H, Okay, assuming Novacyt fulfilled their contractual obligation, there shall be a paper trail of training and competency records, hopefully not just with the DHSC, but something that Novacyt shall have retained on file.
I still think that the DHSC would likely have cut corners, due to the urgency, how many are employed within the average lab? Novacyt simply has to prove that training was completed, or at least attended site to deliver the required training.
Having proceeded with 'Extreme Urgency' the DHSC wasn't happy, allegedly the instruments didn't work as required, despite TVG validation and having being used successfully around the world for years. Clearly the instruments performed as required within some parts of the NHS, evidence is there, plus repeat orders for PROmate.
The DHSC cut corners with the procurement due to the 'extreme urgency.' One could argue that the DHSC also cut corners with the roll out due to the extreme urgency and many labs lacked the appropriate resources to correctly train upon and utilise the new equipment, hence the real reason is did not perform as required.
1) The Covid-19 outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The WHO Director General characterised Covid-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. 2) DHSC needs to acquire POC testing goods as a matter of extreme urgency. The urgency is further amplified by the approaching flu season and the need for an immediate testing solution which allows medical practitioners to distinguish common flu or Covid-19; 3) DHSC is satisfied the tests permitting use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met: A. as far as is strictly necessary: the Covid-19 outbreak is a public health emergency and urgent, rapidly increasing demands to support laboratories within NHS pathology networks. The products will be used by laboratories across NHS pathology networks for the priority use cases; B. there are genuine reasons for extreme urgency: These tests are needed immediately in response to this crisis and need to be implemented to support the NHS’s ability to manage the increase of positive cases in hospitals, to be able to identify and treat Covid-19 positive patients and isolate them from other patients in hospitals. These allow NHS to save lives. If DHSC does not proceed with the purchase as soon as possible it is likely that this supply will be purchased by another country (due to high global demands); C. the events that have led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: the Commission itself confirmed: ‘The current Coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency – precisely for such a situation our European rules enable public buyers to buy within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary.’ (Commissioner Breton, Internal Market, 1 April 2020); D. it is impossible to comply with the usual timescales in the PCR: due to the urgency of the situation there is no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would allow the NHS to secure delivery of a suitable, compliant product at required volumes as quickly as is needed. The supplier is required to start delivery of goods and services immediately.
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2020/W41/73629
26th Jan 21 Novacyt uploaded the PROmate video to YouTube, NCYT was working hard at that time to improve the workflow efficiency and address issues within the DHSC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfBWanjuTKk