By Kristy Dorsey

Scotland’s Omega Diagnostics is preparing to ramp up sales into India following approval of its Mologic ELISA test for Covid-19 antibodies in that country.

Health authorities in India, which has a population of more than a billion people, have included the Mologic test on a list of kits sanctioned for use in detecting the virus. The lab-based Mologic antibody test determines whether an individual has been infected in the past and thus built up resistance to the disease, while antigen tests confirm the presence of the disease when symptoms first appear.

Approval for sale remains conditional on the submission of supporting technical data, which Omega said it was “confident” would be successful. Once past this final clearance, the company will use its direct sales team in India to establish commercial roll-out.

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Omega said the volume of future sales is uncertain, but India is “clearly a significant addressable market”. The company will update shareholders on first commercial orders as they are received.

Chief executive Colin King said Omega was delighted to receive approval in this “key target market”.

“India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and has a population of over 1.3 billion people,” he said. “Clearly this is an important market for us to target and I look forward to updating shareholders on our commercial traction.”

ELISA is the industry acronym for Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay, one of the most proven lab technologies in the diagnostic industry. The Mologic ELISA test has already been independently validated by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and St George’s, University of London.

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Omega has developed the test in partnership with Bedfordshire-based Mologic, and the two firms are also working together on three further Covid-19 testing opportunities. The collaboration with Mologic is separate from Omega’s participation in the UK Rapid Test Consortium, which announced earlier this week that it had reached “design freeze” on an antibody test strip that can be used at home.

AIM-listed Omega’s share price went on a bull run from the beginning of April, driven by news of Covid developments, but settled last month following an £11 million placing and open offer. The stock closed more than 4% higher yesterday at 42.5p.