OMEGA Diagnostics has taken a further step closer to the commercialisation of a highly anticipated HIV test.
The life sciences company, based in Alva, Clackmannanshire, said it has produced a first batch of the CD4 tests from its preferred manufacturing protocol.
The batch has been found to perform in the correct manner and eliminated the variability of results seen in previous tests.
Omega confirmed it is now planning to do further test runs in the coming weeks.
It said: "The company is pleased to announce that it has produced a first reference batch which, when tested on patient samples, has produced results which are within the agreed design specification for the accuracy of the test and which demonstrate a significant reduction in the levels of variability previously reported.
"This is an important milestone in the technology transfer project and we will proceed to test the protocol with further independent manufacturing runs."
The company's share price received a boost from the update and ended the day up 0.25p, or 1.4%, at 18.38p.
Omega, headed by chief executive Andrew Shepherd, has previously indicated it may make a small amount of CD4 sales before the end of its current financial year in March 2014.
The CD4 testing kit is based on technology developed by the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
The kit is used to determine if an HIV patient's white blood cell count has fallen to a level where retroviral drug treatment is needed. It does this in a relatively short time-frame and without the need to send the results to a laboratory.
Already it is said to have generated a great deal of interest from non-governmental organisations working in developing countries as well as other players in the life sciences sector.
Earlier this month analysts at Edison Investment Research predicted Omega could be making sales worth £2 million of CD4 by its 2015 financial year.
In interim results posted in November, Omega said it would almost double its Scottish workforce from 34 to more than 60 in the next few years if CD4 and an array of allergen tests, used in laboratories around the world, come to the market and perform as expected.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article