The Gembloux-based diagnostics company Coris BioConcept has developed the world's fastest COVID-19 detection test as a result of international collaboration with various laboratories and hospitals. Speed is clearly one of the crucial issues in the fight against the pandemic. This test is expected to allow the widespread screening of patients and is an excellent complement to the molecular biology screening methods currently used in hospitals.
Located on the Crealys Science Park in Gembloux, Coris BioConcept, in close collaboration with the Brussels University Hospital Laboratory (LHUB-ULB), which is the laboratory of the City of Brussels Hospitals and the Erasmus Academic Hospital, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the University of Milan and the Virology Institute of Leipzig, and with the support of the National Reference Centre for Respiratory Pathogens and the laboratory of the University Hospital of Liège, has developed a rapid diagnostic test to detect the SARS-COV-2 virus in patients with severe infection.
Unlike the currently available serology and molecular biology tests, which often take several hours or even days to deliver results, this test detects the presence of viral antigens in the patient's respiratory sample obtained from a nasopharyngeal swab. It is in the form of blotting paper, similar to pregnancy tests, and takes 15 minutes to diagnose an infection in more than 7 out of 10 patients with a high viral load (CT < 25). It is the fastest test in the world so far. Another mass test was recently validated in the United States. Launched by the company Cepheid, it takes 45 minutes to reveal whether or not a patient is positive for COVID-19.
The test developed by Coris BioConcept, which has the CE label, is obviously less accurate than tests carried out in hospitals, since 30% of patients are not detected, but it saves time in the front line and enables treatment to start more quickly. Above all, it will speed up verification tests on proven cases to assess the development of their infection.
This scientific breakthrough will therefore be particularly valuable as we begin the gradual deconfinement. Large-scale screening should certainly contribute to the success of this crucial phase.
Founded in 1996, Coris BioConcept is a company in the biotechnology sector which specialises in the development, production and marketing of rapid diagnostic tests. These tests, which are mainly based on the principle of immunochromatography, detect the pathogens of respiratory and enteric infectious diseases, as well as pharmaceutical molecules in blood and urine.
