Member Info for RegulatorUK

"Readings loads of NHS Test and Trace job adverts in the last couple of days.
Regional and Local Testing Centres being set up.
Job Description - The NHS Test and Trace service is central to the government's coronovirus recovery strategy.
We are talking long term not short term response."

These aren't Civil Service jobs - but NHS jobs. And most of them are fixed term for 6-12 months.

The pay banding is generally relatively good for the more senior roles (Band 8c/d or Band 9) but they'll struggle to recruit the most competent/capable people, as they won't want to move for such short fixed term positions.

"It was 13p XD and I bought more at 18p so they weren’t far off. The opportunity was taken to top up by everyone on this board I think!!! Happy days!"

Reall112 predicted it would go sub-10p... it didn't. Yet he's still on other BBs claiming he predicted it correctly.

"We already have CE mark for Mologic antigen test."

ODX doesn't have the CE mark for the Mologic antigen test - Mologic does.

As a new manufacturer of the antigen test, ODX will need to CE/UKCA mark the test itself.

This is antigen testing, rather than antibody. At this time it is unlikely to be any relevance to ODX - other than further confirm the potential demand for any new antigen LFT it may produce.

"Clearly not and I will add further proof by stating that he must have something worthwhile to say because only a clown would put himself on the stage and have nothing new to say..... Obviously, he is going to announce the Government antibody strategy and I got that message from Captain Jameson or was it Bell!"

*Snork*

"Alternatively, he could set out a coherent, deliverable strategy to defeat covid."

You're not doing Dry January then....?

;-)

If Boris is on at 5.00 pm then expect his proposals to be leaked via Peston or Laura 'Goebbels' Kuenssburg any time now...

He'll then assess the right wing press' and Twitterati's initial reaction and tweak his announcement accordingly.

"GLP are seeking to overturn the decision and the contracts. I.e., to change government actions which were taking by executing govt policy. Judicial review is all about trying to change Govt policy."

Sorry - you're fundamentally wrong about what judicial review is and what the potential outcomes are.

Judicial review has a limited scope - it is all about reviewing the lawfulness of a decision/action. It's a review of the process of decision-making, rather than the outcome of that process.

JR does not decide whether the decision or action was 'correct' and the courts do not set aside, over-turn or substitute decisions.

"No regulator I'm not okay with corruption. But I think the government should set policy/statute, and the judiciary should interpret it. The GLP are trying to set policy."

GLP aren't trying to set policy - that's a ridiculous suggestion. They're holding the government to account against the *current* rules and regulations that the government are supposed to be complying with. That's how judicial review works.

"Regulator, the point of the large number of cases Jolyon has launched is to put money into his pocket, not to cost him. If he can't defray the costs, he's out of pocket. Thus far Jolyon has only applied for a judicial review. He clearly hasn't raised enough to defray the costs of pursuing it."

Jo Maugham works pro-bono at GLP. He's independently wealthy.

The money is there to pursue the case, which is currently awaiting listing.

"As far as clarifying the extent of Government powers in an emergency goes, I personally think that the attempts by the judicial system to overrule legitimate policy making and democratic consent over the last five years went too far, and have wasted considerable sums of taxpayers money."

Sounds to me like you're saying you're OK with corruption....

Oh - and should GLP win (again) then of course, "costs follow"...

"Regulator has forgotten to add that Jolyon sought £100,000 from crowdfunding to fund him to prosecute the Abingdon case. If you check on the Good Law Project website, it says there are only five days to go to hit that £100,000 target. I seem to recall that back around the end of November he'd raised almost £35,000. It's now £39,385. So just another £60,615 to go. £14,000 a day. I'm guessing this case is going to get dropped for lack of funding to proceed. And anyway, its just vexatious litigation, with as much chance of success as Jolyon's crusade to overturn the Brexit referendum. But maybe Regulator could dig deep and make up the £60k shortfall."

The funding for the case to proceed is there - the crowdfunding was to defray the costs, rather than the basis on which the case would proceed or not.

As for it being 'vexatious litigation' given the courts' rulings in other recent Covid-related GLP challenges (which were in favour of GLP), that claim simply doesn't stack up.

As I have said previously, I don't think this is the strongest case the GLP has - but I think it will be important in setting a benchmark as to what is and isn't acceptable in these sort of emergency procurements. This may actually work in the favour of companies like Abingdon and ODX, by forcing greater active transparency by government departments, thus increasing the opportunities for them to bid successfully for government contacts - rather than seeing them handed to competitors with poorer products...

"What has happened to the GLP and their action against Abingdon?"

Action is proceeding. Formal application was made to the Court in November with a initial response from HMG and Abingdon due by the end of November and then mid-December for summary grounds.

Due to Covid, cases are taking longer to get listed for hearings.

*is

"Right, thanks Regulator. Definitely helps. If I post anything more on here today please give me grief. I will check in tomorrow. Work booked in for Wednesday, the only productive thing I have done today, and so will just check the progress then. For me Wednesday is the next fun day anyway. Plenty more fun and games to come. Good luck.all, and I hope you are also enjoying the fun."

And there SBI goes...

Well done on not posting anything further yesterday. Your restraint it to be admired!

On the Mologic antigen test issue, the publicly stated position is:

"Independent assessment at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as part of the FASTER study with 28 patients presenting for care, resulted in a sensitivity of 92%, and a specificity of 100%, corresponding to RT-qPCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases. Limit of detection studies estimate a 50% Tissue Culture Infectious Dose (TCID50/ml) of 100-350 (<5×10^2 pfu/ml), a key tool for estimating the infectious titre of a virus.

Considering the preliminary number of patients included so far, further studies are planned across the UK with St George’s University of London, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College London, Nottingham University Health Trust, and the Hull Royal Infirmary, with expected report findings in January 2021. The data is available on request, pending full publication of results."

Given that further studies are ongoing, I would suggest that making assertions around the effectiveness of the test is unwise. Let's wait for the final results later this month. All I will say is that it is extremely unlikely that a company like Mologic, which is highly regarded internationally, would risk it's reputation by CE marking a test it was not satisfied met the relevant requirements.

"Thanks for popping along Phil and fulfilling the Brexiteer stereotype!"

*Snork!*

"Please tell me I am not the only person who has been staring at a number half the day, that being the share price. Hands up anybody else guilty of this. The more hands the better I feel. Lol"

You're not. I seem to have spent a chunk of today staring at the SourceBio price...

"Looks like Boris is on TV at 8 tonight, I take a punt and it goes like this, ' I did say yesterday in two weeks blah blah, but after 'new' information I am locking you all down from Thursday' rubs his hair with his hand!"

I reckon it will be Tier 4 everywhere, with schools closed (except for key worker/vulnerable kids as before) but that he won't go for a proper lockdown... so cases will continue to rise.

"RegulatorUK. Because there could be some people buying now and expecting to receive the special dividend. When they realise that they won’t get it, the buying pressure could subside."

Really? You think so?