TIDMIPO
IP Group PLC
03 August 2020
FOR RELEASE ON 03 August 2020
IP Group plc - Portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies
partners with UK Government to roll out LamPORE, a new generation
of COVID-19 test
-- Ground-breaking British technology will initially provide
hundreds of thousands of fast, accurate, low-cost COVID-19 tests
under new agreement with the UK Government, with the potential to
build to millions of tests per month. Results can be obtained in
under two hours.
IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group" or "the
Company"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses,
notes that its portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Limited ("Oxford Nanopore"), has announced an agreement with the
UK's Department of Health and Social Care, to roll out its novel
LamPORE test. This will support the UK's efforts to manage the
continued reduction of COVID-19 and containment of new cases, now
and through the winter cold and flu season.
Under the agreement, an initial 450k LamPORE SARS-CoV-2 tests
will be made available for use by a number of NHS testing
laboratories. As well as providing a large number of tests for
existing labs, the programme will help the UK to understand the
different use cases for the technology, for example the potential
asymptomatic screening of frontline staff.
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group , said: "The roll-out
of LamPORE, the company's first diagnostic assay, is a significant
development for Oxford Nanopore and in the battle against COVID-19
in the UK. We are proud that Oxford Nanopore has been supplying
countries all over the world with sequencing capability throughout
this pandemic to help support the response to the crisis."
Since the first emergence of the virus, Oxford Nanopore's rapid,
portable sequencing technology has been used extensively for
COVID-19 epidemiology and scientific research.
IP Group holds an undiluted beneficial stake of 15.8% in Oxford
Nanopore Technologies.
The full announcement follows.
For more information, please contact:
IP Group plc www.ipgroupplc.com
+44 (0) 20 7444 0050
Greg Smith, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0) 20 7444 0062/+44 (0)
Liz Vaughan-Adams, Communications 7979 853802
Charlotte Street Partners
David Gaffney +44 (0) 7854 609998
Andrew Wilson +44 (0) 7810 636995
Notes for editors
About IP Group
IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation
company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its
partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has
pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the
resulting businesses by providing access to business building
expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised
subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks,
recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track
record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in
early-stage to mature businesses across life sciences and
technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London
Stock Exchange under the code IPO.
Group holdings in portfolio companies reflect the undiluted
beneficial equity interest excluding debt, unless otherwise
explicitly stated.
For more information, please visit our website at
www.ipgroupplc.com .
S
Oxford Nanopore Technologies partners with UK Government to roll
out LamPORE, a new generation of COVID-19 test
-- Ground-breaking British technology will initially provide
hundreds of thousands of fast, accurate, low-cost COVID-19 tests
under new agreement with the UK Government, with the potential to
build to millions of tests per month.
-- The "LamPORE COVID-19" assay provides precise detection of
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using Oxford Nanopore's
DNA/RNA sequencing technology.
-- LamPORE is fully scalable and designed to enable both
high-volume screening and rapid, local testing. Results can be
obtained in under two hours.
-- In addition, the "LamPORE Respiratory Panel", currently in
development, is designed to detect multiple viruses in a single
sample; not only SARS-CoV-2 but also the most common winter
respiratory viruses including Influenza A and B and RSV.
Oxford Nanopore today announces an agreement with the UK's
Department of Health and Social Care, to roll out its novel LamPORE
test. This will support the UK's efforts to manage the continued
reduction of COVID-19 and containment of new cases, now and through
the winter cold and flu season.
Under the agreement, an initial 450k LamPORE SARS-CoV-2 tests
will be made available for use by a number of NHS testing
laboratories. As well as providing a large number of tests for
existing labs, the programme will help the UK to understand the
different use cases for the technology, for example the potential
asymptomatic screening of frontline staff.
Because of its scalability, LamPORE has the potential to provide
both:
-- Large-scale screening to detect the virus in broader
populations. Individuals being tested may be presymptomatic or
asymptomatic, eg:
o Regular screening of frontline workforces
o Broad screening of a community/population in the event of an
outbreak
o Screening at the point of congregation eg transport hubs
-- Rapid, focused, localised analysis , eg:
o In-hospital testing to protect staff and patients and enable
operational capacity
o Care homes, education and elsewhere in the community health
and care sector
o Leisure, culture or businesses
LamPORE is designed to be deployed on Oxford Nanopore's desktop
device (GridION) or palm-sized device (MinION Mk1C), providing the
capacity of processing up to 15,000 samples a day or 2,000 samples
a day respectively. It is well suited to use in a central
laboratory for high-throughput sample processing, or near-community
'pop-up lab'. LamPORE results can be generated in under two hours.
The approach of having testing centres available in more locations
combined with this speed supports rapid turnaround of results. Fast
results can help precise isolation and therefore supports public
health strategies to prevent onwards transmission of the virus.
LamPORE Respiratory Panel: a multiple-pathogen test
In addition to a test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19, Oxford Nanopore is currently developing LamPORE to test
for multiple pathogens within a single sample, including influenza
A (H1N1 and H3N2), influenza B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
and SARS-CoV-2. This is intended to allow healthcare professionals
to distinguish between these infections, better manage expected
winter pressures on the NHS and guide public health and clinical
management of these diseases at a time of traditionally heightened
pressure on health services. It also supports a goal of
understanding dynamics between these viruses in the UK
population.
Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore, said: "We are honoured
to be playing a part in fighting COVID-19 in the UK, and preparing
the country for the winter virus season. Ever since we founded
Oxford Nanopore, our mission has been to create disruptive, high-
performance technology that has a profound, positive impact on
society. LamPORE has the potential to deliver a highly effective
and, crucially, accessible global testing solution, not only for
COVID-19 but for a range of other pathogens. We are delighted to be
working with the UK government to support and empower our
communities to effectively manage testing at a national and
localised level."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "Oxford Nanopore's new rapid
LampPORE tests will benefit thousands of people with fast and
accurate test results, removing uncertainty and breaking chains of
transmission quickly and safely. I am hugely grateful for the
fantastic work Oxford Nanopore have done to push forward this
important innovation in coronavirus testing."
About LamPORE: a new generation of testing technology
LamPORE detects active infection, providing a complementary
testing solution to antibody detection, which is currently only
able to indicate a previous infection.
-- LamPORE is a precise, rapid, low-cost and highly scalable
assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19.
-- It is designed to test saliva and swab RNA samples, whether
gathered from people who are showing symptoms of COVID, or those
who do not have symptoms.
-- LamPORE is designed to be deployed, at scale, for a
comparable cost per test as standard RT-PCR testing. However,
unlike RT-PCR the analysis is not performed in
duplicate/triplicate, thus reducing cost of double/triple-testing
and expanding capacity.
-- The LamPORE assay is performed on Oxford Nanopores devices,
which are highly affordable and capable of performing thousands of
tests per day, per device.
-- LamPORE includes an internal control. This allows the user to
identify that a test is invalid if the sample has not been gathered
effectively, which can be a source of 'false negative' results.
-- LamPORE uses Oxford Nanopore's sequencing technology to
precisely identify amplified sections of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,
after it has been targeted and amplified using RT-LAMP. This method
of detection can differentiate between actual SARS-CoV2 presence
and errors that can occur during amplification, which can be a
source of 'false positive' results.
-- Furthermore, as LamPORE does not rely on the same components
used in existing RT-PCR tests, it offers the potential to ease
pressure on current supply chains and expand testing access.
LamPORE is the first assay developed by Oxford Nanopore for
diagnostic use. Oxford Nanopore is currently in the process of CE
marking the device for diagnostic use. The company will also be
pursuing regulatory clearance in other jurisdictions.
Oxford Nanopore was spun out of the University of Oxford, and
has since developed and brought to market a new generation of tools
for biological analysis. The Company opened up a new, high-tech
manufacturing facility in Oxford in 2019 to support rapid-scaleup
of production.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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END
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