TIDMABDX
RNS Number : 2437C
Abingdon Health PLC
10 October 2022
The 'Further re. Outcome of Judicial Review' announcement for
Abingdon Health plc released Friday, 7 October 2022 at 17:16 under
RNS No 2415C has been re-released in the interests of market
clarity.
The announcement text is unchanged and is reproduced in full
below.
Abingdon Health plc
("Abingdon Health" or "the Company")
Outcome of Judicial Review
All grounds were dismissed, including the claim of state aid,
apparent bias and national preference
Contract Award Decisions given to Abingdon were lawful and
complied with the principles of public law
York, U.K. 7 October 2022: Abingdon Health plc (AIM: ABDX), a
leading international developer and manufacturer of high quality,
rapid diagnostic tests, notes the judgement by Mr Justice Waksman
in relation to the Judicial Review proceedings initiated by the
Good Law Project Limited ("GLP") against the Secretary of State for
Health and Social Care ("DHSC") in which Abingdon Health is an
interested party. Mr Justice Waksman has ruled in favour of the
DHSC on all grounds, including lack of state aid to Abingdon Health
and dismissed all claims brought by the GLP.
The judgement confirms that Contract Award Decisions by the
DHSC, for the development and manufacture of lateral flow test kits
for COVID-19 antibodies by Abingdon Health, were lawful and
complied with the principles of public law. All grounds brought by
the GLP in this case were dismissed and, of particular note to
Abingdon Health plc, the claim of state aid was dismissed.
Abingdon Health has maintained throughout this process that the
contracts were awarded without apparent bias and national
preference, and that the award of contracts to Abingdon was a
straightforward purchase of goods and services by a public body
from an established expert provider of lateral flow device
development and manufacturing services, on normal market terms.
Throughout the process the GLP made a number of disparaging
statements and unsubstantiated assertions about Abingdon Health
that have been damaging to the Company's employees, shareholders
and other stakeholders. Correspondence addressing these factual
inaccuracies, as sent to the GLP in May 2021, is available on the
Company website and covered the following areas:
-- Abingdon Health's longstanding expertise in the area of
lateral flow test development;
-- the financial security of the Company ahead of any Government
contract award;
-- the subjectiveness of any company being an "established
operator" within COVID-19 antibody testing in the early stages of
the pandemic;
-- performance data relating to the AbC-19(TM) test and other
evaluations undertaken;
-- the formation of the UK Rapid Test Consortium ("UK-RTC") and
the fact that Abingdon Health's AbC-19(TM) test - a lateral flow
assay for COVID-19 antibodies - was developed and manufactured
without assistance from Professor Sir John Bell;
-- prices of goods and services provided being at appropriate
market price, such that there was no state aid provided; and
-- unfounded allegations of WhatsApp messages between the
Minister for Health and Social Care and Abingdon employees.
In addition, a 'Detailed Grounds of Resistance' document was
filed to the court by Abingdon Health to ensure the factual
inaccuracies referred to the above were addressed and this document
is also available on the Company website .
Abingdon Health fully supports both openness and accountability
relating to the award of public contracts; however, this particular
case brought by the GLP was comprehensively dismissed on all
grounds. Despite the Company's best efforts to cooperate and
demonstrate to the GLP that there was no bias or assistance in
these contracts being awarded, and to illustrate the impressive
credentials and experience of the Company and its employees in
lateral flow test development and manufacture, facts and evidence
were ignored, false rumours were released to the media and, in the
Board's opinion, the proceedings continued long after they could
have been halted.
The full judgement is available online:
https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/tcc/2022/2468
Abingdon Health is an established lateral flow diagnostics
company providing contract service solutions across a range of
sectors including infectious disease, other clinical areas, animal
health, plant pathogen and environmental testing. Founded in 2008,
Abingdon Health is a leading expert and knowledge leader in the
area of lateral flow test development and commercial manufacture.
The senior management team has over 150 years' combined experience
in the lateral flow testing market and the Company employs over 70
people across facilities in Yorkshire.
As a British company and a leader in the field of lateral flow
testing, Abingdon Health responded to the Government's request for
healthcare industry experts to pull together in a national and
international emergency, and this led to the formation of the
UK-RTC, a consortium of UK diagnostic companies. Abingdon
developed, manufactured and, in the period between November 2020
and January 2021, supplied lateral flow test kits for COVID-19
antibodies, that were used by the DHSC.
The monies received under these contracts totalled GBP10.3m
(including GBP5.4m to cover reimbursement of stock and GBP0.2m in
interest). This does not include a final GBP1.5m cash payment from
the DHSC, currently held under charge until the outcome of the
judicial review, which is now expected to be released, bringing the
total amount paid to Abingdon by the DHSC to GBP11.8m (all amounts
quoted exclude VAT).
Chris Yates, Chief Executive Officer of Abingdon Health plc,
commented: "We are, of course, pleased with this judgement, but
extremely disappointed that Abingdon's reputation and good standing
has been called into question by the GLP, and their unsubstantiated
accusations were broadcast widely by them through various media
outlets.
"At Abingdon Health we answered the Government's call for
leading UK life sciences companies to respond quickly with
solutions to help during the height of the pandemic. We did the
right thing. In the end we have been caught in a political
cross-fire. We fully support transparency and accountability in the
award of public contracts in general, and particularly during the
COVID-19 period, but this case was misjudged.
"Despite all of the challenges that this has caused our
business, I am very proud of the Abingdon team who have remained
focused on serving our customers and building our business
throughout."
Dr Chris Hand, Non-Executive Chairman of Abingdon Health plc,
commented: " This has been a challenging time for our Company and
we are delighted with Mr Justice Waksman's judgement and his
dismissal of all claims against the DHSC with the associated
implications for Abingdon Health. It is testament to the robustness
of our Company that we have dealt with this distracting challenge
and are now returning to growth. It is particularly pleasing to
note Mr Justice Waksman's comments on our credentials in the area
of lateral flow.
"I would like to thank colleagues, friends, customers and
shareholders for their support as we move to the next phase of our
Company's growth with continued confidence."
Enquiries
Abingdon Health plc www.abingdonhealth.com/investors/
Chris Yates, Chief Executive Officer Via Walbrook PR
Melanie Ross , Chief Financial Officer
Chris Hand, Non-Executive Chairman
Singer Capital Markets (Sole Broker and Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3000
Nominated Adviser)
Peter Steel, Alex Bond (Corporate Finance)
Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)
Walbrook PR Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or abingdon@walbrookpr.com
Paul McManus / Phillip Marriage Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 893 / +44 (0)7867
Alice Woodings 984 082
+44 (0)7407 804 654
Notes to Editors
No Directors of Abingdon are, or have ever been, members of the
Conservative Party or have ever provided donations to the
Conservative Party.
About Abingdon Health plc
Abingdon Health is a world leading developer and manufacturer of
high-quality lateral flow rapid tests across all industry sectors,
including healthcare and COVID-19. Abingdon is the partner of
choice for a growing global customer base and takes projects from
initial concept through to routine and large-scale manufacturing
and has also developed and marketed its own labelled tests.
The Company offers product development, regulatory support,
technology transfer and manufacturing services for customers
looking to develop new assays or transfer existing laboratory-based
assays to a lateral flow format. Abingdon Health aims to support
the increase in need for rapid results across many industries and
locations and produces lateral flow tests in areas such as
infectious disease, clinical testing including companion
diagnostics, animal health and environmental testing. Faster access
to results allows for rapid decision making, targeted intervention
and can support better outcomes. This ability has a significant
role to play in improving life across the world. To support this
aim Abingdon Health has also developed AppDx(R) , a customisable
image capturing technology that transforms a smartphone into a
self-sufficient, standalone lateral-flow reader.
Founded in 2008, Abingdon Health is headquartered in York,
England.
For more information visit: www.abingdonhealth.com
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END
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