Collaboration with AstraZeneca, GSK and University of Cambridge to support UK national effort to increase COVID-19 testing

PARIS & CAMBERLEY, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Novacyt (EURONEXT GROWTH: ALNOV; AIM: NCYT), an international specialist in clinical diagnostics, announces that as part of the UK Government’s announcement of a new five pillar plan to increase testing for COVID-19, Novacyt is collaborating with AstraZeneca, GSK and the University of Cambridge to take action to support this national effort.

A new testing laboratory will be set up by AstraZeneca, GSK and the University of Cambridge at the university’s Anne McLaren laboratory. This facility will be used for high throughput screening for COVID-19 testing and to explore the use of alternative chemical reagents for test kits in order to help overcome current supply shortages.

As part of the collaboration, Novacyt will ensure an effective workflow process within the facility for COVID-19 testing, as well as provide its COVID-19 test to generate results data. Novacyt’s COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test has been developed by its molecular diagnostics division, Primerdesign, based in Southampton, UK.

This collaboration reinforces Novacyt’s existing support of the UK Government’s five pillar plan as the Company continues to work with a growing number of hospitals and is actively engaged with the NHS and Public Health England in helping to meet their testing requirements.

Steve Rees, Head of Discovery Biology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D of AstraZeneca, commented:

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Novacyt to develop and evaluate the required COVID-19 testing approach in the new AstraZeneca, GSK and University of Cambridge testing facility to support the broader UK government screening programme.”

Graham Mullis, Chief Executive Officer of Novacyt, added:

“Novacyt is committed to supporting national efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, we continue to work with the NHS and Public Health England to supply our COVID-19 test to a growing number of hospitals and, through this new collaboration with AstraZeneca, GSK and the University of Cambridge, we are very pleased to further assist the Government to increase testing. I again want to extend my gratitude to Novacyt employees who are working all hours, and to our supply chain for their continued support, as all stakeholders work together during this difficult time.”

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

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About Novacyt Group

The Novacyt Group is an international diagnostics business generating an increasing portfolio of in vitro and molecular diagnostic tests. Its core strengths lie in diagnostics product development, commercialisation, contract design and manufacturing. The Company's lead business units comprise of Primerdesign and Lab21 Products, supplying an extensive range of high-quality assays and reagents worldwide. The Group directly serves microbiology, haematology and serology markets as do its global partners, which include major corporates.

For more information please refer to the website: www.novacyt.com

About COVID-19

Researchers at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and their collaborators have sequenced the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pathogen from patient samples and have found it to be genetically distinct from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus that caused an epidemic in 2002 and 2003, as well as from the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus that was detected in 2012.