Ekf Diagnostics Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 30/12/2020 23:03

Tonight's late RNS indicates that Octopus Investments have been buying and are now a major shareholder - they have 3.1% with 14.1m shares:

[btgman] 30/12/2020 08:58

I am hoping for an early January trading update from EKF. This company is massively undervalued with its suite of income generating assets strong cash position and link with Mount Sinai. I do feel they are vulnerable to a bid at current levels
AIMHO
GLA
BTG

[wan] 29/12/2020 08:26

Given the risks, not to mention the increased transmissibility of the new variant, you would think that all responsible companies would want to eliminate as much risk as possible and keep their employees, and the general public, as safe as possible -

Transporting samples safely
MyHealthChecked takes safety seriously and our sample transportation procedures meet or exceed all local regulations. In the case of our COVID tests for example, your sample is preserved in a special vial, a PrimeStore® MTM (which stands for a molecular transport media) approved by Public Health England. This deactivates any virus in the transportation tube, whilst retaining the stability of the sample. It’s clever technology that creates a “snapshot in time” for your sample, preserving and stabilising DNA and RNA, and keeping postal workers safe from infection if your test contains contagions.

[wan] 29/12/2020 07:50

I should have added the remainder of the RNS -

Commenting on the approval, Penny McCormick, CEO of MyHealthChecked Plc, said:
"Our COVID-19 testing service launched on 2 December and has gathered momentum through the month. As we are already providing Fit to Fly documentation, our inclusion on the Government's official list of Test to Release providers will further enhance the service that we can provide to travellers departing the UK, and flying into the country. Our priority is to provide an excellent service to customers, which includes a robust web App and user interface that is compliant and provides a positive user experience. We have been confident that our process would meet the Government's requirements, and we will be rolling out the enhanced system and service from January."

"Alongside this further COVID-19 related development, our team continues with its initial development and rollout plans for the new portfolio of home-use genomic tests, and we will be providing an update on our Q1 launch plans in the coming weeks."

[mirandaj] 29/12/2020 06:51

The Prominent/Emerging Players in the Pregnancy Point of Care Testing Market Research includes:Abbott Laboratories  Quidel Corporation  BIOSYNEX SA  Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc.  EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc  bioMerieux SA  NOW Diagnostics Inc  Procter and Gamble Co.  NG BIOTECH SAS  Swiss Precision Diagnostics

[rivaldo] 28/12/2020 08:42

This article in today's Times suggests COVID-19 testing has a long way to go in terms of both quantities and duration - for non-subscribers, here's the highlights:



"Relaxing social distancing in favour of more frequent coronavirus tests could help workplaces return to normal and boost productivity, Britain’s biggest lobby group has told the government."

"Retailers including Asos and Next have said that productivity in their warehouses has been limited by social distancing requirements. As a result, they have had to extend delivery times because it takes longer to pick and pack orders.

Ocado, the online grocer, has tested staff entering its robotic warehouse after buying 100,000 kits from China. The John Lewis Partnership introduced testing this month for 1,000 staff at its distribution centre and 40 stores three times a week.

The government is considering a range of incentives and subsidies to help with the costs of testing, according to The Mail on Sunday which first reported the CBI’s discussion of more testing. It is thought frequent testing could help get businesses back on their feet while waiting for vaccinations.

A pilot of about 30 firms, including John Lewis, is already in operation while a number of private businesses offering rapid tests have sprung up.

Companies have been urged to consider whether they would want to make testing mandatory and how frequently they would test their employees."

[mginvestor] 26/12/2020 18:57

Covid testing capacity expected to fall short as UK cases surge

in the FT

Government document warns of scarcity in kits when schools and universities return in January

The UK may not have enough coronavirus tests to meet surging demand in the coming weeks, according to an internal government document, as the new strain of Covid-19 sends cases soaring.

Demand for the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used by the NHS Test and Trace programme was predicted to outstrip supply in the week to Christmas by up to 50,000 tests a day, according to government calculations made last week and seen by the Financial Times.

The forecast that demand could exceed 700,000 tests a day, when capacity currently stands at 650,000, was made before the effect of the new strain of Covid-19 was fully understood.

Since those calculations were made, Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, has said that the mutation could be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the earlier strain. The warning caused international alarm and has resulted in more than 40 countries imposing travel bans on Britain.

Allan Wilson, who heads the Institute of Biomedical Science, a professional body, said that while the new rules restricting family visits at Christmas might relieve pressure in the next few days, “increased demand from this new strain of Covid-19 is likely to offset the decrease”.

“We can only hold our breath and see what happens,” he said.

A surge in demand for Covid-19 tests in the run-up to Christmas, rising from around 380,000 a day on December 14, has been fuelled by a concerning rise in cases, particularly in south-east England, as well as large numbers of people without symptoms ordering tests before they visit family members.

That has put strain on the testing system, with many people taking to social media to report they had been unable to order home testing kits over the weekend or been sent miles to reach the nearest available drive-in centre.

The government increased capacity to about 593,000 tests a day at the end of last week and will raise it by a further 100,000 a day next week, according to the document, with capacity due to increase to 788,000 by January 19.
Coronavirus in 2021: what we do and don't know

Nonetheless, NHS Test and Trace predicts that demand might outstrip testing capacity several times next month, as the virus continues to spread and students return to school and university.

The Department of Health and Social Care said there was capacity to respond to increases in demand and “people can have confidence that if they have symptoms and need a test, they can get one”.

But it insisted that “individuals should book PCR tests only if they had symptoms of coronavirus: a high temperature, a new continuous cough or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste”.

“It is vital everyone continues to play their part by following the rules and remembering the ‘hands, face, space’ guidance, and coming forward for community testing if it is offered locally, ” it said.

Meanwhile, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK regulator, has for the first time approved rapid Covid-19 tests for use at home by members of the public, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.

[wan] 26/12/2020 08:54

I hope all readers are staying safe and well, and enjoying the Christmas break, even if that's in a somewhat more restricted way (as mine has been and is).

The following news is again concerning, but importantly it perhaps highlight the significant difference of using PrimeStore MTM which inactivates infectious viruses and provides safer and more reliable testing -

Staff at UK coronavirus testing lab hit by outbreak of disease

Whistleblower claims safety measures breached at Milton Keynes facility where 20 staff affected

Staff at the UK’s biggest testing lab in Milton Keynes have been hit by an outbreak of coronavirus as the country struggles to contain the soaring number of infections.

Cases have been reported in three of the four scientific teams at Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory, Sky News said on Christmas Eve. Sky said there had also been cases among the admin and warehouse departments. It is believed that, as a result of the outbreak, about 20 members of a 70-person lab team are isolating.

The site is being asked to process 70,000 tests a day to keep up with rising demand. A whistleblower told Sky News that Covid safety measures had been breached.

The lighthouse laboratories are large-scale centres set up to try to increase testing capacity.

New testing sites were opened in two London university laboratories in December, and another will be opened in the capital shortly, according to Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials.

A spokesperson said: “NHS Test and Trace continues to test record numbers of people, and people can have confidence that if they have symptoms and need a test, they can get one.

“We are delivering an unprecedented volume of tests – more than 450,000 yesterday alone – and during periods of high demand, our focus is ensuring that anyone with symptoms can get a test.

“All our test sites and our home test service will be available for bookings as normal over the Christmas period.”

Full story -

Sky News -

[richman777114] 24/12/2020 13:01

i don't think that the tax paid on the dividend in specie can be added to the dividend quantum for cgt base cost purposes but i am happy to be wrong

[boadicea] 23/12/2020 13:50

RE: In specie dividend.
In my calculation, the base cost of the new shares becomes the value on which you paid tax PLUS the tax you paid on the 'dividend'. This accounts for the shares whch you would have to sell to pay the tax. In effect, if you have not sold them you have 'repurchased' them from the tax man at that cost.

[tongosti] 23/12/2020 10:15

Awesome - it's just the small matter of price not acting right but that doesn't matter does it.

[wan] 23/12/2020 08:43

As EKF investors, we do also need to cast our eye beyond Covid-19 testing, especially now that Longhorn, and indeed EKF, has been put firmly on the testing/surveillance map. One such example -

African Swine Fever (ASFv)
A virus ravaging the global pork industry.

Improving testing to stop the spread.
Cleared by the U.S. FDA for microbial inactivation, PrimeStore® MTM has been under extreme testing at the USDA Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) at Plum Island for the last three years. PrimeStore® MTM is already being used worldwide for animal surveillance, but the most recent testing results are pending publication.

In consultation with the FADDL leadership, a special configuration of PrimeStore® MTM will be launched to ensure sample to PrimeStore® MTM ratios are appropriately maintained by end users when testing samples that might contain High Consequence Pathogens (HCP) – such as ASFv, Classical Swine Fever (CSFv) and Foot and Mouth Disease (FMDv).

The new configuration will be known as PrimeStore® MTM HCP.


Belgium declared African swine fever disease free
22 Dec 2020

It is the restoration of this international free status by the OIE that will make it possible to initiate negotiations with third countries on the lifting of the current embargoes on Belgian pork.

Nevertheless, it remains important to be vigilant. African swine fever is still circulating in Eastern Europe and the virus spread further to the border area in Germany with Poland in September. Our country, like all European countries, is closely monitoring the situation in order to prevent a second introduction of the virus.

Although the disease has now been eradicated, the Walloon Region in the south of the province of Luxembourg still maintains strict monitoring and control measures. In the future, they will be gradually phased out, according to an already established strategy.


The US are on the case -

A Race To Get In Front Of African Swine Fever

By JENNIFER SHIKE December 15, 2020
As African swine fever (ASF) rages in Vietnam, the U.S. pork industry, through a $1.7 million USDA Foreign Agricultural Service grant, is learning more about this deadly virus from what pork producers in Vietnam are facing now.

The Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) Vietnam project is studying ASF in real time as the disease breaks on farms across the country. With the National Pork Producers Council’s (NPPC) help, SHIC obtained a grant with a two-fold mission to help with education, webinars, meetings and outreach information about ASF in Vietnam and to conduct field projects to learn valuable lessons about how this virus spreads.

Getting Ahead Of The Virus
“With ASF, we've got an opportunity in Vietnam to not chase it, but get in front of it and learn the lessons about all of those things with management control, epidemiology, etc., before it gets here,” explained Paul Sundberg, executive director of SHIC, during a SHIC Talk podcast.

Lessons Learned from COVID-19
Surveillance and testing will be critical in efforts to prepare for and prevent ASF. Wagstrom said many lessons were learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We're nine months into an outbreak and they're still struggling with what testing means, how to get people tested, how accurate are some of their tests, etc. It would be criminal for us not to have a surveillance scheme set up and have the appropriate tests when we know what pathogen we're dealing with,” Wagstrom said.

COVID-19 was a brand-new pathogen, so the Department of Public Health didn't have a test. But the U.S. pork industry has the luxury of knowing what it is worried about – African swine fever, Wagstrom explained. Now, the industry needs to keep expanding its test types.

NPPC continues to work closely with USDA and the state animal health officials trying to put together surveillance schemes before an outbreak occurs.

Another lesson learned from the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 is that the pork industry needs to do more work in the area of depopulation and disposal.

“We didn't have the resources in place to be ready to have a large-scale depopulation effort, and that comes back to industry, states and federal government,” Pyburn said. “We need to make sure we've got a plan, and not only a plan, but also the resources to fulfill that plan and get it done in a timely manner on our farms so that we don't run into welfare issues.”

Full story -

[btgman] 23/12/2020 07:55

Exactly Wan testing testing and more testing is what is on the way this is currently being missed within EKF share price. On top of this EKF's basket of other products is staggering I have said before 2021 will be a more profitable year than 2020

AIMHO
GLA
BTG

[wan] 23/12/2020 07:50

Edit to above post

[wan] 23/12/2020 07:47

An example of the demand for antibody tests and the fact that testing across all types will continue beyond 2021, and not least of all PCR testing -

Antibody Testing Kits
A Tender Notice
by DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE (DHSC - TEST AND TRACE)

Type Contract (Products)

Duration 2 year
Value £30M-£100M

Sector
HEALTH
Published
21 Dec 2020
Delivery
01 Feb 2021 to 01 Feb 2023
Deadline
21 Jan 2021 00:00


Description
Owing to the developing nature of our response to COVID-19 the Contracting Authority is establishing a Dynamic Purchasing System to facilitate the procurement of Testing Kits, technologies or Devices for the detection, analysis or monitoring of COVID-19 Antibodies


Bodes well for interest in EKF's Kantaro antibody test kit.

[richman777114] 22/12/2020 13:04

so if the distribution based on fair value works out at say £2k then that is also the base cost of the distributed shares for cgt purposesobvs i'm not a tax adviser so usual caveats re DYOR etc

[richman777114] 22/12/2020 11:02

red171,the cosec of EKF emailed me backseems fair value for each distribution disclosed deep in the annual report for each parent co and that fair value forms basis of taxable dividend and base cost of shares in spunoff entityone learns something every day

[wan] 22/12/2020 08:37

Making a difference, before, during.......and after the pandemic including use in routine testing -



Virus/pandemic surveillance had been put far higher up the global agenda, importantly the diagnostic infrastructure and capacity (in a post-COVID-19 environment) is now in place globally!

[wan] 22/12/2020 07:56

21 December 2020

VMRD Mask Testing Can Prevent Spread of COVID-19
Testing has become a critical tool to slow the spread of COVID-19, but some individuals who have unknowingly been infected, but never show symptoms, may never get tested and could potentially infect others.

Veterinary diagnostics company VMRD, Inc., based in Washington state, has come up with a method to collect samples from used masks that can detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus shed by affected individuals, even those who are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic. The testing method, known as CovMaT (Coronavirus Mask Testing), relies on a unique fluid preservative developed by Maryland-based Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics to deliver accurate results.

Dr. Siddra Hines, a VMRD veterinary scientist, said the idea is to maintain surveillance of a facility through testing of the bits of mask to ensure that the virus is “not floating around” and pose a risk to the health of coworkers. At the end of each shift where this process is deployed, small samples from a disposable mask that has been worn throughout the workday would be collected, placed in individual tubes with the unique fluid preservative. PrimeStore MTM is validated for antigen testing and is the first-of-its-kind extraction-less qPCR sample collection device. Using PrimeStore MTM will both inactivate any virus on the mask and stabilize the genetic material, allowing the samples to be safely shipped off to a lab for testing. The labs would then use existing PCR testing methods to test the samples for traces of the SARS-COV-2 virus.

“It’s a new sample type, but the (testing) process is old,” Hines said.

VMRD, which is best known for veterinary diagnostic test kits and related reagents, entered into the COVID space earlier this year. Hines said the company has a strong record packaging materials to be shipped, such as diagnostic kits, and at first used that as a means to help out. But, VMRD wanted to make sure that its employees were not inadvertently spreading the virus among themselves or to its customers, so it came up with the CovMaT solution. The company wanted to harness its own expertise in diagnostics to benefit not only the biopharmaceutical industry, but the overall economy by providing a surveillance method that protects against outbreaks.

“The most important part of this is the impact it can have by preventing workplace exposure and spread. It decreases the likelihood of people being in an environment where someone could be exposed to infection,” said Dr. Hines.

Full story -

I Note - A new sample type validated for antigen testing and is the first-of-its-kind extraction-less qPCR sample collection device.

[wan] 22/12/2020 07:41

Making a difference -

Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics Augments International Organization for Migration’s COVID-19 Testing Capabilities by Donating One Million Tubes of PrimeStore® MTM

The donation will improve safety and efficacy, and help address the gap in COVID-19 testing of displaced persons worldwide

December 21, 2020

“The worldwide viral outbreak of COVID-19 has increased the importance of being prepared with safe and accurate molecular testing, but many communities throughout the world still lack proper access,” said Jeff Fischer, President of Longhorn. “We were founded 15 years ago to fight global pandemics, and as a veteran-operated company we fully understand the importance of answering the call. Migrants face significant challenges in accessing quality testing for infectious diseases. Prior to the Pandemic, we validated our oral swab-based screening kit for tuberculosis (PrimeScreen™ MTB) in a migrant community in South Africa and have continued to support testing at that site. We are eager to expand our support for migrant communities through this donation to the IOM. Everyone at Longhorn is dedicated to improving access to medicine and we are working to make a difference in marginalized communities who have been hard hit by the pandemic, as well as endemic disease.”
Full release -

Separately, Longhorn's co-founder and President commented -

In April, the IOM validated Primestore MTM for their GeneXpert #sarscov2 POC testing of migrant communities. They needed to inactivate the sample at collection to protect their workers. They knew the value of Primestore MTM from its success with MTB. For the first six months they were buying at commercial prices. Today we are announcing our donation to the IOM. We hope this is the beginning of a series of partnerships with organizations providing care to the World's most vulnerable.

[btgman] 21/12/2020 22:41

I have a view that 2021 will trade ahead of 2020.

AIMHO
GLA
BTG