Kit Developed to Measure Immunity After COVID-19 Vaccination

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyun-ui Cho] A diagnostic kit that can measure immunity after vaccination against the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is being developed.

Domestic bio-venture company Plexense announced on the 28th that it will jointly develop a COVID-19 neutralizing antibody diagnostic kit with Osong Advanced Medical Industry Promotion Foundation under the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Chungbuk National University College of Medicine.

Neutralizing antibodies are antibodies that play a role in neutralizing the virus so that it cannot enter cells. The coronavirus uses spike proteins, which are protruding structures on the virus surface, as a link to enter cells in the body.

COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies attach to the spike proteins and neutralize the virus. When vaccinated, neutralizing antibodies are prepared in advance in the body, enabling defense against coronavirus invasion.

Plexense has secured exclusive rights to use the COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies developed by the Osong Foundation. Plexense stated, "We plan to apply the diagnostic method of our proprietary high-speed immunodiagnostic platform to this neutralizing antibody material and release it as a COVID-19 immunity diagnostic kit."

It enables rapid and accurate analysis within a maximum of 30 minutes, allowing verification of the preventive effect after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. In particular, it is explained that five personnel can screen 2,000 people in bulk over eight hours in one day.

Not only the presence of neutralizing antibodies but also immunity can be diagnosed based on the quantitative value of neutralizing antibodies. Plexense is standardizing the quantitative values of neutralizing antibodies through joint research with Chungbuk National University College of Medicine. Specifically, they plan to create a standard value to determine the presence of immunity.

Kim Ki-beom, CEO of Plexense, said, "We are about to complete the standardization of immunity presence and the research on the neutralizing antibody diagnostic kit," adding, "We expect results by January next year and plan to apply for product certification in various countries around the world by February."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.