Omega hails approval for Covid test in Indian market
● Scottish firm aims to leverage direct sales team ● Sees country as major potential target market
Alva-based life sciences firm Omega Diagnostics Group has hailed another step forward with the approval of one of its Covid-19 antibody tests in India – which it says is a key target market.
The medical diagnostics company said its Ce-marked Mologic Elisa (Enzyme Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay) antibody test has been given the thumbs-up by the Asian country’s authorities.
Omega said approval for sale remains conditional on submitting supporting technical data, and the firm expects this to be successful, enabling it to sell its Elisa antibody test directly into the “potentially significant” target market.
The test has high-quality performance data and has been independently validated by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and St George’s, University of London, added Omega, whose remit also encompasses testing related to HIV, infectious diseases and food intolerance,
The Scottish firm said that while the quantum of future sales is unknown at this stage, India is “clearly a significant addressable market for Covid-19 antibody testing and Omega will use its direct sales team in India to establish commercial roll-out in the region”.
Omega chief executive Colin King welcomed approval to sell the test in India as it is a key target market. He added: “We have an established direct sales team and we believe a reliable and high-performance antibody test will be very attractive to our laboratory customers.
“India is one of the fastestgrowing economies in the world and has a population of over 1.3 billion. Clearly, this is an important market for us to target and I look forward to updating shareholders on our commercial traction.”
The announcement is the latest in a series by Omega, which most recently praised progress by the UK Rapid Test Consortium – of which it is a founder member – on developing a Covid-19 lateral flow antibody test that can be used at home.
Omega said design freeze for the Covid-19 Rapid Test has been obtained, and it initially aimed to produce 100,000 tests a week, growing to 200,000 by the end of September.
Omega in a separate announcement earlier last month flagged an impairment charge of £8.7 million on the back of stopping the development of its allergy products as it focused on Covid-19 testing.
It said it had shipped its first order for the test to detect if people have had the disease , and flagged its signing of a longer-term supply agreement with Mologic, under which the latter would supply raw materials to enable Omega to make its Ce-marked Elisa antibody test. The test “will play a key part in identifying people that have antibodies demonstrating previous infection with Covid-19”, said Omega at the time.