Shares in Omega Diagnostics closed more than 10% lower yesterday following a media report that one of its Covid test partners is allegedly set to sue the government for “stonewalling” approval of its kit for use in the UK.
The article also said that Mologic, Omega’s partner on the Visitect Covid-19 antigen test, has asked for its kit to be evaluated by the government’s Porton Down science lab with an independent observer present. The test has reportedly fallen short because of “kit failure” or being too difficult to administer.
Omega’s headquarters in Alva will be one of the sites producing tests on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) once it has named its preferred test, a decision that was expected weeks ago. The Mologic test is among those under consideration.
READ MORE: Omega shares slip as decision delayed on which Covid test it will produce
Mologic’s lateral flow antigen test, which determines whether someone is currently infected with the virus, is also being commercialised by Omega under the Visitect brand for sale to other parts of the world.
In a statement released yesterday, Omega said the situation between Mologic and the government will have no impact on its agreement with the DHSC, which could be worth up to £374 million over the lifetime of the contract.
Shares in AIM-listed Omega closed 7p lower yesterday at 62.5p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here