Novacyt secures further Covid-19 detection contracts

Clinical diagnostics firm Novacyt secured more contract wins for its Primerdesign Covid-19 detection test, but also cautioned that it had suffered a slight setback in France.

Novacyt said on Tuesday total sales and confirmed orders for Primerdesign had hit €135m after having locked in new contracts in Zimbabwe, the UAE and throughout Latin America.

However, the AIM-listed group also revealed that French regulator Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) had not approved Primerdesign's test for reimbursement. However, Novacyt was allowed to continue selling the test in France for private patient testing.

"HAS stated it will not authorise reimbursement because the Covid-19 test has been developed with one single gene target," the company said.

Chief executive Graham Mullis said: "The competitive tender process and subsequent award in Zimbabwe to support the country's national COVID-19 testing effort is a key example of our increasing global reach. As new regions are impacted by the pandemic, we expect the demand for our COVID-19 test to continue to grow.

"Our manufacturing scale-up is progressing to plan and we look forward to supporting current and additional countries with their testing requirements."

As of 0905 BST, Novacyt shares were down 4.38% at 320.33p.