Director assumes Clinical Governance and Service Development Roles
Dr Stephen Davies, Group Medical Director and an Executive Director on the Board of Medica, has announced his retirement and will be succeeded by the company’s current Clinical Director, Dr Robert Lavis. Stephen will work closely with Robert until his planned departure date of 31 May 2021 to ensure an orderly transition.
Dr Davies, who has led the clinical governance function for Medica since joining in 2013, has transformed delivery of service during his tenure making it a leader in the UK teleradiology market. Infl uential in the Company’s listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2017, he played a key role in establishing its presence in
Ireland following the acquisition of Global Diagnostics Ireland and also in the deployment of Medica’s fi rst augmented intelligence solution.
Dr Lavis joined the leadership team in September 2020 and has already been infl uential in driving the clinical aspects of several key strategic projects, along with improvements in clinical protocols associated with trauma and stroke for urgent NightHawk reporting. Prior to joining Medica, Robert worked as a reporting radiologist for the Company for six years. Robert joined Medica from Gloucester Royal Hospital where he is currently a Consultant Radiologist and former Clinical Director. He has extensive experience of
clinical practice, starting out his career as a surgeon before entering radiology with a specialist focus on oncology.
Wishing Stephen well on his retirement, Roy Davies, Chairman, said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Stephen for his dedication and commitment to Medica over the past seven years, as well as his participation as a member of the Board. I look forward to working alongside Robert who shares Stephen’s passion for continuous improvement and his desire to drive change.”
54445pr@reply-direct.com Rob Lavis
Agreement Speeds Access to SARS-Cov-2 Antigen Test
A partnership which will accelerate Avacta’s Affi DX™ SARS-CoV-2 lateral fl ow rapid antigen test to market is enabling the test to be CE marked for professional use under Mologic’s existing ISO13485 quality system. The CE mark will then be transferred to Avacta when it receives ISO13485 accreditation, which is expected by the end of March 2021. Affi DX supports COVID-19 testing in low and middle income countries
The partnership immediately provided Avacta with additional manufacturing capacity through Mologic and its partners including Global Access Diagnostics (GAD), in addition to the scaled-up manufacturing capacity being built with BBI and Abingdon Health. Combined, these partnerships will deliver several millions of tests per month; Avacta is also continuing discussions with other manufacturers in the UK and overseas to access additional capacity to meet demand.
delighted that this collaboration provides an opportunity for Avacta to support antigen testing in low and middle income countries through Mologic’s international manufacturing links.
“The longer-term collaboration with Mologic, on a range of diagnostic tests, offers a signifi cant potential opportunity for the Group. The combination our technologies to generate a world-leading second-generation antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 is an exciting possibility.”
Alastair Smith
Clinical evaluation of the lateral fl ow test is currently being carried out at a hospital in mainland Europe and Avacta will shortly initiate further clinical validation studies in the UK and abroad.
Support Spurs Candidates towards Clinical Development
Scancell, a developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, had raised £48 million (£46.1 million net proceeds) from the issue of shares and convertible loan notes. The company secured circa £2 million of funding from Innovate UK to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial (COVIDITY) for its COVID-19 Vaccine; a collaboration with Cobra Biologics to manufacture the vaccine was also agreed. Susan Clement Davies was appointed as Non- Executive Director of the Company in September 2020, following Dr Alan Lewis standing down and
post period Dr Gillies O’Bryan-Tear was appointed as Chief Medical Offi cer and Dr Robert Miller as Medical Director.
Loss for the 6-month period was £3.86 million compared to £2.51 million in 2019 while group cash balance at 31 October 2020 was £25.74 million boosted from the April 2020 level of £3.58 million. In early November 2020 the Company’s bank balance was further increased by net proceeds of £20.49 million raised from the issue of Convertible Loan Notes and an Open Offer to shareholders. Cliff Holloway, Chief Executive Offi cer of Scancell said: “We are pleased to report a period of strong operational and fi nancial progress for Scancell, having transformed the Group’s cash balance through two transactions with the support of our shareholders. 2021 is set to be an exciting year for the business. We continue to work towards developing an effective and differentiated vaccine against COVID-19, potentially active against new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, whilst also making progress with our Moditope®, ImmunoBody® and AvidiMab™ platforms. We would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support over the past 6 months and look forward to utilising the proceeds raised to propel the business forward.” More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/39Vv
Cliff Holloway
54447pr@reply-direct.com Mark Davies
Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Offi cer of Avacta Group said: “I am very pleased to announce this partnership with Mologic, which follows a close collaboration over recent months. I am also
Mark Davis, Chief Executive Offi cer of Mologic, said: “Mologic offers a highly versatile range of scientifi c and manufacturing services for the development of diagnostic technology. We are very pleased to be working with Avacta to apply our expertise in this important project and look forward to it paving the way for further collaborations.”
54446pr@reply-direct.com
AI Software brings Historical Sites to Light
ArchAI, founded by archaeologist-turned- computer scientist Iris Kramer, has received a cash injection from Government to
develop her revolutionary software that leverages artifi cial intelligence to automatically detect archaeological sites for construction planners. The software was developed by Iris during her PhD in deep learning at the University of Southampton and her previous degree in archaeology. Locating possible archaeological sites at the earliest planning stages could lower the cost of construction and ensure that vital historical sites are preserved.
Iris said, “By using our technology over conventional techniques, developers could save tens of thousands in costs, as well as months of time that would be spent surveying land pre-development. Going forward there are wide ranging environmental challenges globally that our world-fi rst technology can address.” ArchAI is one of fi ve space projects receiving UK Space Agency funding through the national Space Research and Innovation Network for Technology (SPRINT). Dr Fraser Sturt, a professor of archaeology at the University of Southampton, said: “Aerial photography transformed archaeology in the early 20th century, revealing sites in a way that few people could have conceived of in the past. Advances in Earth Observation and Machine learning offer another leap forward, helping us to identify and monitor sites across space and time. “This information is critical not only for our understanding of the past, but how we manage the built environment and its development in the future.”
Iris Kramer
54450pr@reply-direct.com
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