Pharma firms shares plunge after pausing marketing of Covid-19 test
A Covid-19 lateral flow test has been found to be less effective at detecting the Omicron variant, which has prompted companies to pause its marketing.
Rapid test developer Abingdon Health and biopharmaceutical firm Avacta announced this morning that their AffiDX lateral flow has “reduced sensitivity”, which prompted investors to duck out of the stock.
Shares in Abingdon Health plunged 22.8 per cent to 22p per share, while Avacta’s stock price collapsed by more than a third to 77p per share by close of play.
Avacta said its test’s efficacy had been impacted by the number of mutations the Omicron strain has gone through – particularly when the individual using the test has a lower viral load.
Abingdon scientists are set to work with Avacta to make the test more effective at detecting the Omicron variant, by using its Affimer technology.
“Our determination to only provide high quality, high performance diagnostic tests has led us to the correct decision to pause all marketing of the AffiDX® lateral flow antigen test,” Avacta boss Alastair Smith said in a statement.
“We believe Covid-19 testing remains a long-term commercial opportunity. We will therefore use the robustness of the Affimer platform, and what we have learned about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, to generate the next generation antigen test that will be as resilient as possible to any future mutations.”
Smith also cautioned that the performance of its other lateral flow tests “may well be adversely affected by the Omicron variant”.
There is not yet a timeline on the return to market, a spokesperson confirmed to City PM