MOH grants Covid-19 testing services to Acumen, up to 100 sites islandwide

ACUMEN Diagnostics, which is 51:49 owned by Q&M Dental GroupQC7 and Aoxin Q&M Dental Group1D4 : 1D4 0%, on Thursday (Dec 16) announced that it has been granted a licence by the Ministry of Health to provide swabbing and Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests services.

The home-grown medical technology company was set up in 2020 as a joint venture between Q&M and Ong Siew Hwa, the founder of Acumen Research Laboratories and currently operates 2 laboratories that can process 7,000 diagnostic tests on a daily basis.

Ong, executive director of Aoxin Q&M Dental, and chief executive officer (CEO) and chief scientist of Acumen Diagnostics, noted that vaccinations and a robust testing regime remain the best strategy for a safe and sustainable reopening of the economy.

With the emergence of the Omicron variant and latest travel arrangements, the company will ramp up its Covid-19 PCR testing services to meet the increased demand for these tests. Acumen Diagnostics will roll out its testing services to 10 clinics by Dec 31.

Ng Chin Siau, CEO of Q&M Dental said: "Through Q&M Dental's extensive network of clinics, with capacity to roll out to 100 sites islandwide, we as a group are committed to provide highly accurate and accessible PCR tests to make Covid-19 testing hassle-free and convenient for all Singapore residents."

In early October, Aoxin Q&M announced it had entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire 49 per cent of Acumen Diagnostics for S$29.4 million.

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Shortly after, on Dec 3, Acumen Diagnostics announced that its PCR test kits (Acu-Corona 2.0 and Acu-Corona Duplex) are capable of detecting Covid-positive cases of the new variant Omicron, in addition to the Delta variant.

On Wednesday (Dec 15), shares of Aoxin Q&M closed at S$0.235, down S$0.005 or 2.1 per cent, while shares of Q&M closed at S$0.59, down S$0.005 or 0.8 per cent.