Smiths Detection Producing Portable COVID19 Triple Antibody Test Device for Attomarker

Smiths Detection has been working with Attomarker, a multiplex blood-testing technology company spun out of the University of Exeter in England, to help produce a COVID19 antibody-testing device.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has already approved Attomarker’s Triple Antibody Test for NHS use in the UK.

The Smiths Detection team has been collaborating with Attomarker since April on the design and performance of the device and has manufactured 10 pre-production units, with the ability to ramp up volume according to demand.

Attomarker’s Triple Antibody Test device is a portable, desktop, antibody-testing device designed to provide laboratory-standard results in any environment. It delivers results in just seven minutes – compared with up to 72 hours for tests that need to be sent away for laboratory analysis.

The result of a trial at St Thomas’ Hospital in London – published last week in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Analyst – shows that the Attomarker Triple Antibody Test delivers a sensitivity of up to 96% in detecting COVID19 antibodies, including in patients who have previously presented false negatives. This is a significant improvement on recently announced tests, which range between 83.9% – 93.9% – though not with real world patients.

 Smiths Detection President, Roland Carter, said, “The Smiths Detection team was able to take the current designs of the existing product and make enhancements that will contribute not only to its improved performance and robustness, but also the ease at which it can be produced. The success we have seen so far in this project is a testament to the high-standard research that the team is able to achieve, but also its agility and flexibility to pick up a project and deliver results. Not just from the perspective of our engineers and scientists, but also in terms of the supply chain, manufacturing and quality.”

Attomarker’s technology uses a multiplex platform that tests simultaneously for multiple clinically relevant biomarkers against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Attomarker tests for three virus proteins (Spike 1, Spike 2 & N) and three classes of antibodies (IgM, IgG and IgA), giving a more powerful profile of the patient’s immune response to COVID19. This could help validate a COVID19 vaccine when a viable candidate completes development. The Triple Antibody Test device is being manufactured at Smiths Detection’s site at Hemel Hempstead.

See latest Travel News, Video Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: COVID19, Smiths Detection.