Nottingham lab firm signs deal to process high street Covid tests

Nottingham-based SourceBio International has signed a deal with a an unnamed high street retail and pharmarcy group (thought to be Boots) to provide laboratory-based testing services to support the roll-out of COVID-19 testing across UK stores.

Under the initial 12-month agreement SourceBio will offer COVID-19 PCR Testing services from its laboratory facility in Nottingham. The service is being trialled initially across a limited number of clinically approved high street sites with the goal to offer larger-scale COVID-19 diagnostic testing across many more UK stores should it prove successful.

Jay LeCoque, executive chairman of SourceBio International, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with a major UK high street name to support the roll-out of testing service for their customers across the UK using our ISO 15189 accredited laboratories.

“Accurate diagnostic testing is needed more than ever given the new surge in COVID-19 infections in the UK and increasing evidence that many more people may have COVID-19 without showing symptoms than has previously been thought. We believe the provision of highly accurate, gold standard, fit to fly, and test to release test results made available on high streets, will be highly sought after and provide much needed peace of mind to those who still need to go about their daily lives and eventually travel abroad.”

SourceBio currently provides COVID-19 testing services to the NHS, the Department of Health & Social Care and private healthcare customers. The company admitted to trading on AIM in October 2020 and raised funds to expand testing capacity to meet the expected increase in demand for COVID-19 testing services from additional commercial customers.