A Manchester-based molecular diagnostics company has said it was too late to launch its Covid-19 test and is "disappointed with falling short on expectation".
Genedrive, which is listed on AIM, has made the admission as it announces its full-year results for the 12 months to the end of June 2021.
The figures show the company's revenue increased from £700,000 to £1.1m while its pre-tax losses were slashed from £19.4m to £700,000.
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The results come after the business completed an equity raise of £7.1m in September.
Chairman Ian Gilham said: "We decided in early 2020 to bring a Covid-19 assay to market to capitalise on the emerging demand for PCR testing during the pandemic.
"The product, the Genedrive 96 SARS CoV-2 Kit, was CE marked in May 2020 and during the summer of 2020 we sought regulatory approvals in various territories.
"We had high expectations for the product that performed well in independent studies, but our commercial traction fell short of our expectations.
"In hindsight our product was too late to the market to benefit from the rapid wave of regulatory approvals, despite the subsequent engagement of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences.
"The company had focused on the US market owing to the commercial nature of that market, the high reimbursement rates and the number of private labs.
"Our distribution agreement with Beckman Coulter in late 2020 was designed to engage that market however without FDA 'Emergency Use Authorisation' customers were unwilling to use non-authorised product, when other authorised products were available in the market.
"As such, we were unable to make any material progress in the US market. Looking forwards we see small pockets of demand globally and as we enter the winter months we are hopeful for additional sales.
"We are disappointed with falling short on expectation with this new product, but are taking the lessons learned into our commercial plans for our POC Covid-19 product.
