SHARES in medical diagnostics specialist Omega Diagnostics surged nearly 10 per cent after it won approval for its ground-breaking HIV testing kit to be used in Nigeria, writes Scott Wright.
Alva-based Omega said Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health (MOH) has given the green light for the Visitect CD4 350 test to be deployed following evaluation of the product in six
geopolitical zones.
CD4 tests are used to assess the progression of HIV and prioritise patients at risk of opportunistic infections.
While usually carried out in laboratory conditions, the Omega kit can be used to provide care to people living in areas with few resources, such as rural territory.
Omega said the MOH approval means the product will become the first rapid and instrument-free CD4 test to be implemented in Nigeria to care for people living
with HIV.
Chief executive Colin King said: “I am pleased that our test has been approved for use in Nigeria which was one of our key strategic aims and allows our unique point-of-care test to make a real difference to people living with HIV in Nigeria.”
The development comes after Omega received an initial order in Nigeria for 250,000 tests from its distribution partner.
Shares closed up 1.4p, or 9.49%, at 16.15p.
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 here