Britain’s Avacta Group has temporarily halted sales of its COVID-19 lateral flow test, according to a statement released Monday, in order to replace the antibody in the device and ensure that the effectiveness of detecting the Omicron variant is on par with that of previous strains. Avacta, based in Cambridge, has since lost a third of its value following the news. “Our determination to only provide high quality, high performance diagnostic tests has led us to the correct decision to pause all marketing of the AffiDX® lateral flow antigen test,” the company said in a press release. Avacta’s AffiDX antigen test has been able to detect Omicron in patient samples but mostly in cases where there is a high viral load. “Whilst the AffiDX® antigen test is effective at identifying high viral loads of Omicron, further laboratory analysis carried out by Avacta indicates that the sensitivity of the test is …