A 90-MINUTE Covid-19 test from a biotech company previously backed by fallen stockpicker Neil Woodford has secured new funds to ramp-up production after winning approval for rollout in the UK.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies has secured an £112.6 million contract with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), following an original order for 450,000 of its fast-response LamPORE tests. The test can be portable, requires a saliva swab only, and machines can process up to 15,000 samples per day.
Specialist analysts Berenberg said that they estimate the contract will see “circa 10 million tests” requested.
Oxford Nanopore today won an £84 million cash injection from new and existing investors, including Abu Dhabi-based International Holdings Company and Railpen, the old British Rail pension scheme, to fund increased production.
It comes after the test won its CE-IVD mark from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulations Agency on Friday.
ONT has multiple backers. Original investors IP Group, which specialises in commercialising science and technology from research institutions around the world, has the largest stake at 15 per cent.
Charles West of analyst Numis said: “We see this as a potential first significant contract win, with more to come for this unique, completely proprietary application of the technology.”
Rollouts of the test, which claims to be more accurate than contemporaries because it targets the virus strain’s genes, are now beginning across Britain, Germany, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Woodford’s failed investment fund previously held a stake in ONT. The stockpicker, who was known for buying stakes in unlisted companies, saw his fund fall into a crisis last June. Its value dropped from £10.2 billion at its peak in May 2017 to £3.7 billion at the time it was frozen.
Since then, ONT has emerged as a key player in the private sector’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
A CE-IVD mark means the device has been approved as complying with the European In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices Directive and can now be legally sold across the EU.
Mr Hancock has said of the tests: “Oxford Nanopore's new rapid LamPORE tests will benefit thousands of people with fast and accurate test results, removing uncertainty and breaking chains of transmission quickly and safely.
“I am hugely grateful for the fantastic work Oxford Nanopore have done to push forward this important innovation in coronavirus testing.”
FDA approval is being pursued in the United States.
