A drug screening specialist saw a huge rise in profits during the pandemic, helped by government Covid testing contracts.
Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics reported pre-tax profits of £67.2 million in the year to May 31, 2021, compared to £900,000 the year before. Newly filed Companies House accounts showed turnover for the year when the pandemic was at its height stood at £148.1 million – up from £6.7 million the year before.
The business was one of many around the UK to strike big deals with the Government as Downing Street pumped billions of pounds of taxpayer cash into trying to get to grips with the coronavirus. SureScreen also sold lateral flow tests to more than 60 countries worldwide, while closer to home its tests were rolled out to universities across England.
It said its lateral flow device was the first made in Britain to be validated by Public Health England, and provided a “qualitative” yes/no result in less than 15 minutes. Back in September it said expansion on the back of its tests created more than 370 jobs in Derby.
The family-run business was set up in 1991, and produces technology to screen for drug abuse, infectious disease and other illnesses. The latest financial figures are included in those filed for SureScreen Holdings – which takes in the diagnostics business and a number of smaller sister companies.
The accounts said: “The market for lateral flow testing is changing quickly, given the focus during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The management team are focussed on navigating these changes over time as well as planning ahead for the positive market trends for testing, as well as other sides of the business.”
In April, SureScreen hosted a visit from former health secretary Matt Hancock to its manufacturing facility in Nottinghamshire. The company said it was still manufacturing LFTs for the NHS and other clients as priority testing for Covid slowed, but was also developing rapid tests for conditions such as diabetes and flu.
Mr Hancock – who left the Cabinet after getting caught breaking social distancing rules – said: “We should be incredibly proud of the diagnostics industry that’s been built in the UK over the past two years, and SureScreen is a huge part of that.
“To develop tests and then develop manufacturing at such speed has been a massive endeavour and everyone at SureScreen has stepped up to the plate."
At the time SureScreen director David Campbell said: “Lateral flow tests have been used for many years, but such was their importance during the Covid pandemic that the spotlight has really been shone on their many applications.
“Their high performance levels and the fact that people have become so used to using them offers us an opportunity to deploy LFTs in places that haven’t been possible in the past, and offer convenient ways to diagnose issues much earlier.
“Although we have been focused on Covid-19 in recent months, we already have a wide array of other tests ready to go, and have built a platform for manufacture of all kinds of different tests, which will help people to take control of their health and could save healthcare millions of pounds.”
SureScreen Diagnostics recently said it was working on a lateral flow test that could detect monkeypox infections in humans in 10 minutes.
The life science business said it was working with Yorkshire-based medical technology provider TestCard and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London to carry out a trial of the test.
The monkeypox test uses a small drop of finger-prick blood, and is said to be the first of its kind in Europe.
The current outbreak has largely occurred among gay and bisexual men, according to the UKHSA.
It is spread through close contact with an infected person and symptoms can include a high temperature, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen glands, shivering, exhaustion and, usually, later a rash.
It is currently diagnosed by a PCR test with a viral swab taken from a patients’ skin by a clinician, which must then be sent to the laboratory for testing.
SureScreen said its system uses a rapid diagnostic device with a digital reader app that can be done at home.
It said it has the potential to inform clinicians much quicker about the spread of the disease via TestCard’s ClearScreen app and, if successful, the tests could be ready for deployment within a couple of months.
The monkeypox trials are the latest in an ongoing partnership between the three organisations, who worked together on developing lateral flow tests and digital reading applications for Covid-19.
