Avacta Group has announced a clinical collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) for the validation of the SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test.
The partnership will clinically validate the rapid and saliva-based coronavirus antigen test that is being developed with Cytiva.
LSTM business development manager Dr Lisa Baldwin said: “The partnership between Avacta and LSTM exemplifies the role of the LSTM in translational work to advance products to market and we are pleased to be working with Avacta on this coronavirus antigen test.”
The collaboration enables Avacta to access patient samples in Africa and South America
As per the terms of the deal, LSTM will conduct the clinical validation of the Avacta Covid-19 antigen rapid saliva test in their category three laboratories on patient samples.
The collaboration with LSTM enables Avacta to access patient samples in Africa and South America, in addition to working with the UK government’s CONDOR programme to access patient samples in the UK.
At present, LSTM is assessing the performance of prototype lateral flow tests delivered by Cytiva alongside Avacta’s ELISA laboratory test using SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus samples.
Avacta Group chief executive Dr Alastair Smith said: “I am delighted to have established this collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
“It is an important partnership which provides Avacta with access to patient samples both in the UK and abroad, where the incidence of the disease is currently much higher, to ensure prompt access to a sufficient number of samples for clinical validation.”
In April this year, Avacta Group collaborated with Cytiva for the development of a rapid test to screen people infected with novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the Covid-19.
