BRISBANE, Australia — A new rapid and low-cost Covid test has been developed by an Australian company situated in the state of Queensland, with the breakthrough expected to be used worldwide.
The EuGeni Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test is a single-use and disposable immunochromatographic rapid test intended to be used by healthcare professionals.
Immunochromatographic tests are based on the identification and detection procedures for antigen-antibody immune reactions when tests are conducted.
As part of investigations into tests for Sepsis, the firm AnteoTech focused their technology into developing an antigen test that could deliver results within 15 minutes.
Results from the rapid tests identify the presence or absence of the Covid-19 antigen as an aid in the diagnosis of infection and have an overall sensitivity of 97.3 percent and specificity of 99.6 percent.
Following the launch of the EuGeni testing platform on April 28, AnteoTech has been approved for sales across Europe with the aim to enter the US and Australian markets by mid-year.
Queensland Treasury tweeted, “Queensland company AnteoTech has won a vital European accreditation for its 15-minute Covid-19 rapid test platform ‘EuGeni’.”
“This is a major milestone for the company, with our sights set on finalizing approvals here in Australia and in the US where our technology is already being used by another Brisbane company (Ellume) to target the home test market,” Chief Executive Officer Derek Thomson said.
Queensland MP Annastacia Palaszczuk tweeted, “Queensland company AnteoTech has developed a 15-minute Covid-19 test that’ll save lives around the world. We backed AnteoTech with an AUD 1.4 million ($1.08 million) investment to make it possible. It’s a success story all Queenslanders can be proud of.”
The Queensland government has also shown its support, committing an AUD 1.4 million ($1.08 million) grant to help progress the test through to commercialization.
Thomson said the firm wants to capture a large slice of the European rapid test market, and was ready to roll out a saliva-based version, ending the need for invasive nasal swabs. The company tweeted, “AnteoTech secures new funding to scale up operations and accelerate the rollout of EuGeni reader platform and Covid-19 ART test, as well as a growing pipeline of other assay tests.”
The EuGeni platform could also be used to detect other infections, bacterial and viral conditions.
“We believe we have a superior test with high sensitivity and specificity based on our unique AnteoBindTM technology,” Thomson said.
“We will soon enhance this offering with a saliva use case and new Covid-19/Flu A/FluB Multiplex test, which will give us a very strong competitive advantage over other products currently on the market.”
(Edited by Vaibhav Vishwanath Pawar and Praveen Pramod Tewari. Map by Urvashi Makwana.)
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