Novacyt and Inspiration Healthcare win orders for coronavirus kit
Alex Ralph
Tuesday March 17 2020, 12.01am GMT, The Times
Novacyt is ramping up its manufacturing of Covid-19 test kits
Novacyt is ramping up its manufacturing of Covid-19 test kits
LUKE MACGREGOR
British-listed healthcare companies have received million-pound orders from Public Health England and the NHS for a coronavirus test and ventilators.
Novacyt, which specialises in clinical diagnostics, said PHE had ordered Covid-19 tests for an initial eight hospitals to provide stocks for four weeks, worth £1 million, in its biggest single order since the outbreak began.
The company has its headquarters in France, where it is also listed, but most of its operations are in Camberley, Surrey. Primerdesign, its subsidiary, is developing the kits and is based in Southampton, where it also manufactures the tests. Last week it said it had purchased enough raw material to make 3.5 million tests.
Graham Mullis, 57, Novacyt’s chief executive, said it was supplying its kits to more than 60