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- Surface chemistry specialist AnteoTech (ADO) is having a turbulent day on the ASX after outlining an updated manufacturing plan for its EuGeni diagnostic test tech
- The EuGeni kit is a rapid diagnostic platform designed to easily detect the presence of illnesses like COVID-19 in humans
- AnteoTech today announced plans to begin manufacturing some key components of the test kits in-house through a new facility in Brisbane
- The company will be able to produce 12 million lateral flow test strips from the facility, while allowing for efficient cassette assembly and packaging, too
- ADO said in-house manufacturing will help it produce new products and get them into the market without lengthy technical transfer processes to third parties
- Today’s manufacturing strategy follows a deal from earlier this month with Spain-based Operon for the production of 20 million lateral flow strips per year
- Importantly, AnteoTech said it will be able to fund the new Brisbane facility thanks to a recently-completed $8 million share purchase plan
- Shares in AnteoTech were up almost three per cent in early action today but have since retreated to trade 5.8 per cent red at 32 cents each
Surface chemistry specialist AnteoTech (ADO) is having a turbulent day on the ASX after outlining an updated manufacturing plan for its EuGeni diagnostic test tech.
The EuGeni kit is a rapid diagnostic platform designed to easily detect the presence of certain illness in humans — including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
AnteoTech today announced plans to begin manufacturing some key components of the test kits in-house through a new facility in Brisbane.
Specifically, the company said it is set to manufacture lateral flow test strips from the facility while allowing room for cassette assembly and test kit packaging as well.
According to the company, the new facility will only require in-house tech transfer, meaning AnteoTech can circumvent the long lead times typically required to undertake a tech transfer for a third party.
Further to this, the manufacturing strategy is expected to improve the efficiency of cassette assembly and packaging, which AnteoTech said is a capital- and labour-intensive process.
The Brisbane facility will also help mitigate contract supply risk, with test strips able to be produced in-house at a high volume and then easily transported globally.
The new manufacturing facility is expected to help AnteoTech produce an extra 12 million test strips per year.
AnteoTech CEO Derek Thomson said the manufacturing strategy will help the company produce tests “inexpensively and efficiently”.
“Implementation of lateral flow test strip manufacture in-house will enable us to produce new products and get them into the market without lengthy technical transfer processes to third parties,” Derek said.
“This will increase our speed to market and ensure quality.”
Importantly, AnteoTech said it will be able to use some of the cash from a recently completed $8 million share purchase plan to fund the procurement, installation and validation of the Brisbane facility.
ADO’s Operon deal
Today’s manufacturing strategy update follows a contract manufacturing agreement with Spain-based Operon earlier this month.
Under the three-year deal, Operon has agreed to help AnteoTech produce 20 million lateral flow strips per year. The 12 million test strips to be produced from the Brisbane facility will now be added to this production figure to increase AnteoTech’s overall production capacity.
“We will increase this capacity as required as EuGeni test demand across the entire range of tests we produce grows,” Derek said.
Operon has already been producing EuGeni antigen COVID-19 antigen rapid tests (ARTs) for some time, with AnteoTech first completing the transfer of its test tech to Operon in March this year.
Shares in AnteoTech climbed almost three per cent over the first hour of trade today but have since fallen into the red, down 5.8 per cent at midday AEST to trade at 32 cents each. ADO has a $616 million market cap.
