Biolidics jumps 22.6% on news of Covid-19 test kit distribution

Singapore

SHARES in Catalist-listed Biolidics rallied for a third consecutive day on Friday, advancing more than 20 per cent by the closing bell.

This comes after the medtech firm announced it will distribute Covid-19 test kits in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The counter hit an intraday high of 40 Singapore cents before easing slightly to close at 38 cents, up seven cents or 22.6 per cent.

The stock registered four sessions of gains this week, declining only on Tuesday. Year to date, the counter has gained 55.1 per cent.

Some 30.3 million shares changed hands on Friday, making it one of the most heavily traded counters for the day on the Singapore bourse.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 8.30 am

SGSME

Get updates on Singapore's SME community, along with profiles, news and tips.

Sign Up

On Thursday night, Biolidics said it got the green light from the authorities to distribute and use its Covid-19 antibody test kits in Indonesia.

The authorisation remains valid until Nov 25, 2021, and may be extended "should there be no undesirable events upon usage", Biolidics said.

The company said results from the kits are not for confirmatory testing, or as the sole basis for diagnosis.

Instead, they have to be interpreted with clinical presentation and confirmed with supplementary testing.

Biolidics also warned that policies for diagnosing and detecting the Covid-19 virus and antibodies in various jurisdictions may change.

Earlier this year, the company had announced plans to distribute a test kit in the US.

Its shares had surged on the announcement, but sank after Biolidics announced it would terminate the distribution agreement due to increased competition for such kits.

In a separate filing on Thursday evening, Biolidics announced an agreement with China-based JOYSBIO (Tianjin) Biotechnology to distribute the latter's Covid-19 test kits.

JOYSBIO owns the medical device known as the "Sars-CoV-2 antigen rapid test kit (colloidal gold)", the firm said.

Biolidics has been appointed the non-exclusive worldwide distributor of JOYSBIO's test for a year.

The company will automatically become the exclusive distributor of this product in Singapore if it orders 100,000 units within 90 calendar days from Nov 26 in Singapore, as well as the exclusive distributor in the Philippines if it orders one million units within 180 calendar days from the same date there.

According to Biolidics, JOYSBIO has received provisional authorisation for the test from the Health Sciences Authority in Singapore.

The test is only for use by clinical laboratories or healthcare workers for point-of-care testing, and not for at-home testing.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Biolidics expects the distribution agreement to contribute positively to the group's revenue after FY2020.

Antigen rapid test kits use nasal swabs and aim to detect viral proteins (antigens) in patients during the acute phase of Covid-19.

This is different from the serology rapid test kits currently sold by Biolidics, which require drawing blood and seek to detect antibodies that usually appear in patients during the recovery phase of Covid-19, the company said.

"In Singapore, it is intended that antigen rapid test kits can be used for rapid Covid-19 testing at certain mass events in the near future," Biolidics added.