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Investors sue company that supplies TestIowa tests

The lawsuit claims Co-Diagnostics inflated their stocks by falsely claiming their COVID-19 tests were 100% accurate.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A federal lawsuit has been filed against the company that makes the tests used at TestIowa sites. 

The federal complaint alleged Co-Diagnostics inflated its stock prices because tests aren't as accurate as the company claims. 

Co-Diagnostic reported several studies that showed their COVID-19 test had 100% sensitivity and specificity rate.

The lawsuit filed on June 15 says that's not the case.

"They defrauded the investing public by claiming that their tests were 100% accurate, which led to a dramatic increase in the price of the company," said Loren Washburn, an attorney for the investor that filed suit. 

The lawsuit was filed in Utah. Co-Diagnostics provided COVID-19 testing equipment to state-run testing programs in Iowa, Nebraska and Utah. 

RELATED: Gov. Reynolds praises Iowa's testing efforts, pledges to test 2% of the population every month

"Within 2 weeks, [the State Hygienic Lab] (SHL) validated the TestIowa testing process," Gov. Kim Reynolds' spokesman Pat Garrett said in an email Monday. "All laboratory testing involves a validation process to ensure its accuracy.  SHL validated the test achieving 95% accuracy for determining positives and 99.7% accuracy for determining negatives. The TestIowa program has greatly expanded testing in the state of Iowa."

RELATED: Gov. Reynolds confident in expanded TestIowa capabilities

Last month, the Lincoln Journal Star reported Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said the Co-Diagnostics tests used for the TestNebraska program have a 95% accuracy rate. 

Co-Diagnostics said they couldn't comment specifically on the lawsuit, but did send an emailed statement about their products:

“Co-Diagnostics stands behind the quality of our technology platform and performance of our testing products," the company said in a statement. "We intend to vigorously defend this matter.”

READ: Court filings against Co-Diagnostics

RELATED: Another Iowan unable to get retested after TestIowa sample is found to be 'unusable'

WATCH: Complete coronavirus coverage from Local 5 on YouTube

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