Shares in the developer of cancer immunotherapies and diagnostics firm Avacta (AVCT:AIM) gained 6% to 184.7p after the company said its Covid-19 test detects the more transmissible delta variant.
The clinical data for the company’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test showed it correctly identified 100% of clinical samples of the delta variant, also known as the Indian variant.
In the small study, two other commercially available lateral flow tests were evaluated with one detecting half of positive cases while the other detected none.
The better performance shouldn’t be surprising given the strong clinical validation of the test announced in April 2021.
GETTING TO MARKET
The lateral flow test is CE marked for professional use in the UK and the EU and the company recently appointed its first distributer, Calibre Scientific, while it said it was also progressing ‘multiple’ commercial opportunities.
Chief executive Dr. Alastair Smith commented, ‘this excellent performance and ease of nasal sampling, coupled with the fact that the AffiDX® test has been developed in the UK, is based on UK technology and is manufactured in the UK are huge selling points for customers in Europe.’
Avacta has developed a proprietary platform derived from a small human protein which acts as an alternative to antibodies to address known drawbacks such as the reliance on an animal’s immune response and high cost of manufacture.
