BATM Advanced Communications Ltd, (LON:BVC) shares rose on Tuesday after it announced that Ador Diagnostics, the firm’s subsidiary focused on the development and marketing of unique in-vitro molecular diagnostics solutions, has received its first commercial order from a leading Italian distributor of molecular biology and genomics products.
In a statement, BATM - a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems - said that, under the agreement, Ador will deliver its new NATlab reader and cartridges for the identification of meningitis in the second half of 2020.
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Ador's NATlab molecular biology solution provides rapid sample-to-answer diagnosis of bacterial, viral or fungal infections, within approximately 15-90 minutes, using DNA sampling.
The unique system is modular, compact and mobile, and is designed to be used at the point-of-care as well as in hospital labs. The group believes that NATlab will allow medical practitioners to provide far quicker and more efficient treatment.
This first commercial order for the new system follows extensive lab testing and the award of over 40 global patents, including in Europe and the US, with more pending, the group said, with the first models of NATlab are expected to go into final trials in leading hospitals in the first half of this year, with the initial system having been already delivered this month.
Looking forward to reporting on Ador's progress
Dr Zvi Marom, BATM’s chief executive officer commented: "We are delighted that Ador has received the first commercial order for the NATlab system, which is an important milestone. “Meningitis is a leading infectious cause of childhood death - and speed of identification and treatment is vital. We are proud that our rapid sample-to-answer solution will help medical practitioners to quickly and efficiently diagnose the specific infection and administer the required treatment.”
He added: "We believe NATlab will transform the infectious disease diagnostics market and we have already received extremely positive feedback and significant interest from several leading medical institutions that are testing the solution. Ador is also working alongside prominent academic and research institutions, including in the UK, to develop more panels for the identification of further diseases. We look forward to reporting on Ador's progress."
In a note to clients, analysts at 'house' broker Shore Capital said the announcement was: "Good news ... in our opinion.".
They also added that they have published a detailed note on the networking solutions and medical laboratory systems specialist today looking at the recent development of the group’s diagnostics activities post an investor trip to Rome to view operations in December.
The analysts also reviewed the group's news flow on wider progress across operations and technologies over the last year, concluding that they expect strong momentum to continue through to full-year 2020 forecasts and beyond.
In morning trading, BATM shares were 7.8% higher at 41.50p.
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