Cardiff-based consumer home-testing healthcare company, MyHealthChecked, is poised to expand into wellness products as it continues to be one of the UK’s leading providers of paid for Covid tests.
The Alternative Investment Market listed firm, which is expected to shortly reveal financial results for 2021, has been a major supplier during the pandemic of paid for and mainly travel related PCR and lateral flow tests to retailers as well as direct to consumers.
Chief executive Penny McCormick said: “The evolution of our wider portfolio is around wellness with our first products launching in April. The wellness tests, alongside our enhanced digital platform, provide indications around weight management, vitamin deficiency, food intolerances, heart health and blood glucose. We expect these tests and accompanying digital outputs to be the first in a new portfolio of long-term growth drivers for our business.
"Using swabs, which are simpler than a Covid test, they are sent off to the laboratory and from that you then get information around your predisposition and the outputs on what you need to do about that.
" We are planning quite a unique personalisation offering in the second half of this year, as getting a personalised wellness and really trying to understand what ‘do I need to’ we consider to be a real growth area in the market.”
Unlike the highly competitive marketplace in the UK for Covid testing, which for MyHealthChecked like many suppliers source products from China, margins will be higher in what is a less crowded wellness marketplace.
Ms McCormick said there is also potential for its new range of wellness testing products to be sold in overseas markets She added: “You could do it outside of the UK because there is less time sensitivity of sending samples back (to the UK), but local regulations do vary. France for example is far stricter and the US is an established market for these sort of tests. However, the Middle East and Asia we see as potential targets.”
The business employs 10 in Cardiff and 10 at its laboratory and quality assurance facilities in Manchester, with a further four remote working staff.
While Covid restrictions are lifting, testing for travelling is expected to remain for the foreseeable future - against the backdrop of uncertainties on the future path of Covid and new variants.
MyHealthChecked recently signed a distribution deal with high street pharmacy Lloyds for its lateral flow tests, having struck a deal to provide PCR tests for Boots online last August.
Its ‘fit to fly’ tests and accompanying verification service is the only Covid rapid antigen test sold through Lloyds Pharmacy with the first order just placed.
Ms McCormick said: “I am pleased to build on our existing relationship with Lloyds Pharmacy with our new Covid-19 antigen test service for travel. Lloyds Pharmacy is already well established with a PCR testing portfolio that includes inbound PCR testing for fully vaccinated and non-vaccinated customers.
"So, we are delighted to be supporting Lloyds Pharmacy further with their growing Covid testing portfolio and working with them as testing protocols for travel continue to evolve."
On the wider outlook for Covid testing products the chief executive said: “When it comes to lateral flow testing, market expectation is really significant. You have got the travel testing space, where we predominantly play today, but there is also currently a lot discussion around government, whether in England or Wales, reducing free testing programmes.
“We have got a changed behaviour now with consumers and there may well be continued government requirement. even if the tests are not provided free of charge. So, yes there is a likelihood that the private testing market for lateral flows could become significant in 2022 onwards.
"The team have worked incredibly hard to establish a robust and flexible testing service that can respond to changes in government policy quickly and meet the high expectations of our major retail partners and their customers.”
