coronavirus

The company said the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders have led to a slowdown in testing service volumes in recent weeks.

The firm plans to submit an EUA application for its quantitative Sanger sequencing COVID-19 test, which could run on hundreds of available CE instruments.

The investment bank said the company's molecular diagnostics have the potential to replace microarrays for cytogenetics analysis.

The assays detect either SARS-CoV-2 antigens or antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to identify active infections and previous exposure.

PharmaCyte, which develops therapies for cancer and diabetes, will be responsible for development and commercialization of tests based on the technology.

The collaboration includes setting up a new testing laboratory that will investigate the use of alternative chemical reagents for test kits.

Avacta said it is aiming to complete development of Affimer reagents for the COVID-19 test by the end of May.

Starting late March and into its fiscal fourth quarter, social distancing guidelines began significantly impacting test volume trends, the company said.

The real-time PCR test provides results in about four hours and has been validated on Thermo Fisher Scientific and Bio-Rad instruments.

Approximately 80 percent of gross product placements in the quarter were associated with interest in COVID-19 testing, the firm said