Yourgene wins second Covid-19 surge testing contract
Manchester biotech company Yourgene has been awarded a contract with the UK Health Security Agency to provide lab capacity to the NHS Test and Trace Programme for COVID-19 testing.
It is the second contract to be awarded to the group this year under the Public Health England National Microbiology Framework Agreement and will use Yourgene’s facilities in Citylabs 1.0, Manchester.
CEO Lyn Rees said: “We are thrilled to be supporting the Government’s COVID-19 testing programme, following on from the successful NHS Test and Trace Programme for COVID-19 testing contract we secured in August this year.
“The repeat business demonstrates the quality of services and testing facilities we offer at our laboratory in Manchester. Actual value for this contract will depend on the services purchased, with no committed spend at this moment in time, but we look forward to updating shareholders on the progress over time.”
This week Yourgene Health also reported its interim results with revenues more than doubling and losses tumbling for the six months to September 30.
Sales hit £17.45m, up from £8.18m, and the pre-tax loss of £306,000 compared with a pre-tax loss of £2.6m a year ago.
Its COVID-19 testing service scaled significantly in the UK through a combination of public contracts and direct to consumer retail channels, generating circa £9m revenue, compared with £400,000 in the first half last year.
A public tender contract award was gained in August 2021 for the UK National Microbiology Framework (COVID-19 testing) which delivered £600,000 revenues in the period, with a further £600,000 post period end.
