LUXEMBOURG-Wednesday 22 April 2020 [ AETOS Wire ]
(BUSINESS WIRE)
-- In a continued effort to help fight the COVID-19 crisis, Eurofins
Technologies announces the CE-IVD marking of a first range of testing
kits for serology-based antibody detection by ELISA of patients who have
been exposed to COVID-19. The development of the assays has been
spearheaded by affiliate companies Gold Standard Diagnostics Inc.,
VIROTECH Diagnostics GmbH, NovaTec Immundiagnostica GmbH and Ingenasa
(Inmunologia Y Genetica Aplicada SA). Those specialized diagnostic
technologies companies are well-established providers of testing
solutions with a strong focus on scientific excellence in infectious
diseases testing and immunology.
According to
experts, there is a large range of applications for serologic testing.
Serology can be used to complement the PCR swab testing that detects the
virus to help diagnose acute infections status and its evolution. It
can help estimate the timing of infection. As knowledge develops about
the immunity to potential reinfection of patients having previously
contracted COVID-19 and recovered, antibodies testing may provide
information about statistically reduced contagion risks of and from
these persons. It could help identify donors of plasma from recovered
patients that can be transfused into COVID-19 patients as a potential
treatment. Long-term, serologic tools can contribute to discriminating
between vaccine-induced antibodies and natural infection. As the
pandemic unfolds, serosurveys can enable tracking closely what
percentage of the population has become infected in each city or region.
Serosurveys may also help efforts to develop vaccines and therapies.
The novel
antibody tests for IgG, IgM, and IgA are intended for the qualitative
detection of IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 virus in human
serum to aid in the identification of persons having been exposed to
SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. Initial testing on more than 200
healthy and potentially cross reacting samples, demonstrated a very
high specificity. These tests can be used to provide valuable
information on individual patients as well as larger cohorts. The assays
are compatible with many open high-throughput automation platforms and
can therefore provide important cost-efficient testing capacity at
scale.
As the
understanding of the virus and the associated immune response will
improve over the next weeks, Eurofins Technologies scientific experts
will continue to work on the development of additional serological
tests.
“This launch
is the result of the strong devotion of our scientists to our fight
against COVID-19. They worked round the clock over the last six weeks to
develop and optimise tests with very high specificity. This is
important in order to minimise risks of false positive detections. We
are very pleased to provide this additional testing option in a time
when many governments around the world are considering suitable
step-wise paths out of their lockdowns. Better understanding the
epidemiology and spread of the virus is an important element in the
fight against this pandemic. Eurofins Technologies companies will
immediately start shipments in significant quantities and we will at the
same time offer these tests as a service in Eurofins clinical
laboratories around the world. Our four factories and partners are
ramping up to produce kits to carry out over 10 million tests per month”
commented Dr. Gilles Martin, Chief Executive Officer.
Online sales
to government approved clinical laboratories are open from today and
orders can be placed using the following links:
For more information and contacts regarding the CE-IVD marked serologic testing kits, please visit www.goldstandarddiagnostics.com
For more information on the COVID-19 solutions offered by Eurofins, please visit: https://www.eurofins.com/covid-19-response/
Notes for the editor:
About
Eurofins Technologies – a fast growing provider of diagnostic
technologies in the field of immunoassays and molecular detection
methods
Building on
the experience and scientific excellence of the Eurofins Group, Eurofins
Technologies is a fast growing global provider of diagnostic
technologies and industry-leading ELISA-based instruments in the field
of bioanalytical testing for the food, feed, environmental, animal
health, and clinical diagnostics industries.
Its R&D
teams located at various sites around the world share their expertise in
developing a wide range of innovative methods and applications with a
focus on immunoassays and molecular testing. For further information,
please visit the Eurofins Technologies website.
About
Eurofins Genomics – a global leader in DNA sequencing services, next
generation sequencing services, genotyping services, DNA synthesis
products and bioinformatics services
Eurofins
Genomics, a member of the Eurofins Group with facilities in Europe, the
United States and Asia, is an internationally leading provider of DNA
sequencing services, next generation sequencing services, genotyping
services, DNA synthesis products and bioinformatics services for pharma,
diagnostics, food, agriculture, biotechnological and research markets.
The company's strength is its extensive customer base and high quality
services in industrial scale for the life science industries and
academic research institutions around the world. For further
information, please visit the Eurofins Genomics website.
About Eurofins – a global leader in bio-analysis
Eurofins
Scientific, through its subsidiaries (hereinafter “Eurofins” or “the
Group”), believes it is a global leader in food, environmental,
pharmaceutical and cosmetics products testing and in agroscience CRO
services. It is also one of the global independent market leaders in
certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery
pharmacology, forensics, CDMO, advanced material sciences and in the
support of clinical studies. In addition, Eurofins is one of the leading
global emerging players in esoteric clinical diagnostic testing. With
over 47,000 staff across a network of more than 900 independent
companies in over 50 countries generally specialised by end client
markets and operating more than 800 laboratories, Eurofins offers a
portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety,
identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of
biological substances and products, as well as providing innovative
clinical diagnostic testing services. The Group’s objective is to
provide customers with high-quality and innovative services, accurate
results on time and, when requested, expert advice by its
highly-qualified staff.
Eurofins is
committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its
technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and
acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of
biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique
analytical solutions and a very large range of testing methods.
As one of the
most innovative and quality-oriented international companies in its
industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients’
increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the increasing
demands of regulatory authorities and healthcare practitioners around
the world.
Shares in
Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange
(ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).
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Contacts
Rodrigo Berlie
NovaTec Immundiagnostica GmbH
Tel.: +49 6074 48760
E-mail: info@novatec-id.com
Investor Relations
Eurofins Scientific
Phone: +32 2 766 1620
E-mail: ir@eurofins.com