COVID-19 Test; AITbiotech A Singapore Based Molecular Diagnostic Company launches a Fast and Simple-to-use RNA-based test for COVID-19 using LAMP technologies
As COVID-19 overwhelms health care resources around the world, Singapore based molecular diagnostic solutions company AITbiotech launches a user-friendly and resource-lite genetic test, abTES™ COVID-19 LAMP-C Kit. Using only commonplace lab equipment like a standard PCR cycler, water bath and heat block, the one-step rapid genetic kit produces easy-to-read results in less than an hour. The color change of the reaction mix will be clearly visible, yellow for positive samples and pink for negative ones. AITbiotech has filed for CE IVD certification of its abTES™ COVID-19 LAMP-C Kit and it hopes to receive approval soon.
Easily visible color change of solution indicates clear positive or negative result within an hour without any sophisticated lab equipment. AITbiotech has also developed an easy to use device to run 8 samples in one go. Its abSTAR (Single Temperature Amplification & Replication system) reader has a ONE CLICK process to operate and can be used by any person with limited lab experience. It is also cost-effective and thus suitable for locations without sophisticated molecular labs .
According to Dr JG Li, CSO of AITbiotech: “We realized early on in the pandemic that an accurate genetic test will be required for screening purpose of the COVID-19. Antibody-based rapid test will be ineffective for early diagnosis due to long incubation period for patients to produce antibody as well as its poor specificity and sensitivity. We also realized that there would be insufficient qPCR test facilities, especially in developing countries to implement qPCR screening using our abTES™ qPCR COVID-19 kit. Our development team proceeded at very early stage of the pandemic to develop a simple-to-use and fast molecular test using the LAMP technology, to develop our abTES™ COVID-19 LAMP-C kit. The preliminary data from our local hospital partners proved that the performance of the kit is comparable to some qPCR kits used in the market.”
According to Mr Will Chiang, Business Director:
“With more than 2 decades of experience with pandemics like SARS and H1N1, we realized in December 2019 that this pandemic could be extremely serious. We have started the development of our qPCR/LAMP kits in early January 2020 and launched a kit for trial by early February 2020. Our kits were validated in several ASEAN countries and Singapore with very good sensitivity and accuracy. With the COVID-19 situation getting worst, we also implemented plan to ramp up our production capacity very early on. At the moment we are able to manufacture up to 2 million tests a month in our Singapore facility. Our kits are now exported and used by more than 2 dozen countries globally.
Presently, AITbiotech offers a total COVID-19 Testing Solution from RNA extractions to genetic testing. abGenix is our extraction instrument that can do 32 samples extraction within 20 minutes. AITbiotech abCyclerQ is a 96 samples qPCR instrument which is widely used in many hospitals and labs in ASEAN. AITbiotech CE IVD certified abTES™ COVID-19 qPCR assay, has been approved for use in most ASEAN as well as some countries in Europe and the Middle East. abTES™ COVID-19 qPCR assay is highly sensitive with limit of detection (LoD) of 11 copies of RNA per reaction, which places it as one of the most sensitive qPCR assays in the world.”
About COVID-19
COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus that was first reported from Wuhan, China on 31 December 2019. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Currently, there is no human vaccine on the market which protects against COVID-19. More detailed information on the COVID-19 outbreak is available on http://www.who.int/.
About AITbiotech
AITbiotech is a leading Genomic Services and MDx company based in Singapore. Founded by Alex Thian in 2008, it has a core molecular services and R&D laboratory in Singapore managed by a team of experienced biotechnologists. It provides a complete suite of Genomic Services, including Capillary Sequencing, Next-Generation Sequencing Services, Bioinformatics Services and customized molecular services to the research, healthcare and biomedical industries in Singapore and Asia. AITbiotech is also an ISO 13485 certified company which manufactures and distributes its own line of real-time PCR pathogen detection assays branded as abTES™ in the Asian and European markets.
For more information, please visit our website: www.aitbiotech.com.
Sales & Media Contact
Mr. Will Chiang
AITbiotech Pte Ltd
+65 9169 6757