Business
Product Launch
Product Launch.
About this update from Avacta Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n RNS Number : 7788W Avacta Group PLC 25 November 2010 \n \n\n \nAvacta Group plc\nNew Product Launch\nDiagnostics instrument for rapid point of care testing\nAvacta Group plc (\"Avacta\" or the \"Company\"), which provides innovative, high value proprietary technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and diagnostics markets, announces the commercial launch of AX-1 (known as Midas during its development). \nAX-1 is rapid point of care immunoassay system capable of delivering a wide range of blood tests to detect disease biomarkers in a GP or vet clinic. The instrument will initially be sold in the UK and European veterinarian market through Avacta Animal Health and distributors, but is equally suitable for human diagnostics. The bench top instrument uses a disposable test cartridge that is pre-loaded with reagents specific to each test, and once the blood sample is loaded the systems carries out a fully automated test.\n \nThe AX-1 is designed to beat point of care diagnostic systems already on the market. It incorporates the gold standard for immunoassays, an ELISA test, including full wash steps within the cartridge, and it uses a highly sensitive combination of chemiluminescence readout with photomultiplier detection.\n \nThe veterinary diagnostics market is worth at least $1.5bn worldwide and the human point of care testing market is considerably larger at approximately $16bn.\n \nThe first test sold with the instrument is an allergy screen for dogs, which is to be used by vets to identify those animals suffering from an allergy that will therefore benefit from a more detailed and more costly allergy test which Avacta Animal Health also provides. The Directors expect first units to be shipped early in the New Year and to see the recurring revenues from the test cartridge sales grow as the installed base for the instrument and the menu of tests grows.\n \nAlastair Smith, Chief Executive commented:\n \n\"We believe that AX-1 presents a world leading solution to the fast growing market of point of care testing. Our focus in the near term will be on expanding the menu of tests available to run on the AX-1 for the veterinary market, but there is also a much bigger opportunity for the AX-1 to address by further developing the product to deliver multiplexed testing and diagnostics for ...