Oxford Nanopore owner IP and Versarien stocks surge as Covid-19 battle steps up

Investors have piled into two London-listed groups which are battling the spread of coronavirus.

FTSE 250 firm IP Group said one of the companies in its portfolio, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, is working with the Department of Health to roll out its Lampore test.

NHS labs will gain access to 450,000 of the Covid-19 tests and potentially use its tech to screen frontline staff who are asymptomatic for the virus under the terms of the deal.

Intellectual property commercialisation company IP owns 15.8% of Oxford Nanopore, which is was spun out of the city’s university in 2005, and its shares rose 11% to 74p.

Alan Aubrey, chief executive of IP Group, said: "The roll-out of LamPORE, the company's first diagnostic assay, is a significant development for Oxford Nanopore and in the battle against COVID-19 in the UK. We are proud that Oxford Nanopore has been supplying countries all over the world with sequencing capability throughout this pandemic to help support the response to the crisis."