Abingdon rolling out saliva-based pregnancy test to Tesco stores

Abingdon Health announced on Tuesday that grocery giant Tesco was launching ‘Salistick’ - its saliva-based pregnancy test - in 298 of its shops and on its online platform from late August.

The AIM-traded firm described Salistick as a significant deviation from the customary urine sample-based pregnancy tests, instead employing saliva as the testing sample.

It said that innovative approach would provide women with an enhanced testing experience, and also boasted impressive accuracy in early pregnancy detection.

The company added that the product offered flexibility, allowing users to perform the test whenever and wherever they wished.

It added that the nature of the test facilitated sharing the experience with partners and close family members.

The decision to stock Salistick in Tesco came in the wake of its successful introduction in Superdrug, where it had been made available across 400 stores and on the Superdrug website.

Abingdon said the emphasis for the Tesco launch would be on its larger shops, and its online shopping platform.

The firm noted that statistics showed that demand for pregnancy tests remained robust, with an estimated 12.5 million tests conducted in the UK in 2022.

On a global scale, the pregnancy test kits market showed a valuation of $1.7bn last year, with projections indicating that by 2028, that figure would ascend to $2.28bn, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 5.08%.

Behind the scenes, Abingdon Health said it had been collaborating closely with Salignostics - the Israeli firm responsible for pioneering Salistick and other saliva-based diagnostic tools.

Abingdon serves as the exclusive distributor of Salistick in the UK and Ireland, and offers support in the form of contract development services to help scale up the product's manufacturing.

That partnership was slated to continue, with Abingdon providing Salignostics with contract manufacturing services for the foreseeable future.

“We are delighted to announce the launch of Salistick with Tesco, online and rolled-out across nearly 300 larger Tesco stores,” said chief executive officer Chris Yates.

“This novel technology provides women with an enhanced user-experience; offering the ability to test anywhere, anytime, and for the testing experience to be shared with a partner and other loved ones.

“We continue to explore distribution opportunities for Salistick both in the UK and internationally and we look forward to launching the Salistick dual pack in due course.”

At 1214 BST, shares in Abingdon Health were up 30.17% at 11.39p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.