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A HOME-GROWN biotechnology company plans to make and sell diagnostic test kits for a range of infectious diseases, using technology developed by science research institutes in Singapore.
The kits, developed by scientists at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), can detect multiple strains of dengue and influenza, as well as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and HIV.
They are touted to be faster than tests now on the market, taking less than 31/2 hours to show results, and can detect lower levels of pathogens.
At a ceremony on Tuesday, the diagnostic test technology was officially licensed to Singapore biotech company AITBiotech, which will make and sell the kits to hospitals in Asia.
Already, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
have bought the kits, said AITBiotech business development manager Shirley Tan.
The company’s chief executive Alex Thian noted that the A*Star tests, which use a real-time polymerase chain reaction technique, were five to 100 times more sensitive than other tests in the market. “In one test, you can find out whether a patient has seasonal flu or pandemic H1N1,” he said.
The influenza test has its roots in last year’s H1N1 outbreak, when A*Star researchers scrambled to develop quick tests for the disease.
However, it does not test for H5N1, an avian influenza strain currently monitored as a potential pandemic virus, as there is little need or demand for such a test, said Mr Thian.
Other kits also test for common illnesses such as dengue and hepatitis B, he added.
Because the kits test for multiple strains of dengue or influenza, they save time compared with conventional
methods which test for one at a time.
The AITBiotech kits are among the first tests which use home-grown technology to be sold here.
Another biotech company, Veredus Laboratories, has tests to sniff out seasonal flu and “biological weapon” pathogens like anthrax, plague, smallpox and tularemia.
AITBiotech will venture further afield to sell the kits to Thailand and Hong Kong, said Mr Thian.
In the next few years, the company aims to have the kits certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration and European CE mark standards, to gain access to international markets.
The global market in molecular diagnostic tests is reckoned to be worth about US$7 billion (S$9.4 billion), and scientists and biotech companies have been racing for a piece of the pie.
This month alone, a global team of researchers and a separate British team have announced tests for tuberculosis which take less than 90 minutes.
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