GDR - Update #35 Aug 2020 21:43
Questions posed to GDR / Walbrook and the answers I received. I have no time to type set it. I've summarised the answers as best as i could.
ICMR application is still in progress, GDR are navigating the process and accept its taking longer than hoped. Company remains confident they will get ICMR approval. My own assumption here is that if there is feedback from ICMR, once resubmitted GDR don’t move you to the top of the queue. They go to the back on the queue? I don’t think I can confirm that with ICMR though.
Divoc lab, which test will they use? The lab will use GDR test assuming GDR get ICMR approval.
FDA - when did we apply? Same time as the other approvals, give or take a week.
Do Backman Coulter have their own Covid test? No they don’t.
What is the Beckman Coulter lab set up, these are not PCR machines, these are robots doing the testing job. Not a small manual operation. The set up is similar to what the NHS use in their Lighthouse labs where the NHS use Thermo Fisher kit. This is a large scale operation. I should have asked if this set up is a like for like with an NHS Lighthouse lab in terms of size and scale?
POC test timeline, could it be bought forward in light of DNA nudge? That is market sensitive information and they cannot answer.
Suggestion given to GDR to break up the RNS updates in future, example cited trading update RNS, I wrote it should/could have easily been two RNS updates. GDR appreciate feedback, they also understand wider market dynamics in terms of updates. GDR don’t like to overstate what is going on. They appreciate feedback and will notify share holders when there are market sensitive updates to be made. I would prefer an AVCT style news feed but it is what it is. At least they know now and im hoping others have said the same too.
Could the Beckman lab be replicated in other locations in and out of the country? Yes
Is there a risk that all this could be too little too late, Testing is being recognised and ramped up in countries all over the world. Labs are competing with each other on reagents and test consumables in the way they were states were competing for PPE (Got this from US News source). The partnership with Beckman mitigates this risk. There are time delays in many states in the US (not all) where the demand for reagents etc means tests are harder to come by for many people. I cannot confirm this, im not from America.
Beckman Lab – anything else? It’s a unique partnership in a sense that they have all the testing kit / solutions under one roof. They produce the reagents, they make and support the robots, Cytiva is owned by the parent company.
Sales reference - Beckman partnership can and will be used in sales pitches.
WHO - As FDA, they dont control the timeline, but it seems we may have changed application status.