Scottish lab creates ‘fast and accurate’ antibody test
● Fears NHS will miss out on screening success, despite interest across Europe
A new “fast and accurate” coronavirus antibody test has been developed by scientists in Edinburgh, although the company fears the NHS could miss out amid interest in Europe for the machines.
Researchers for blood-screening company Quotient have developed a new test for whether people are immune to Covid-19 by spotting whether a person has developed antibodies to the disease.
News of the new test came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that all countries must remain “on alert” over the possibility of further transmission of the coronavirus.
The serological screening machines have capacity for up to 36,000 tests a day and produce results in 35 minutes with 99.8 per cent accuracy, the firm said.
The company behind the new tests says it has 12 screening machines available, with a further 20 expected to be ready by the end of the year – but it has already had talks with interested parties across Europe.
However, with the new test being developed by scientists in Edinburgh, the company is calling for the UK and Scottish governments to begin talks so that the NHS might be able to benefit.
While the UK government says it has laboratory capability to test for coronavirus immunity, this is currently being used for survey testing of existing blood samples and the capacity is not known.
It is also attempting to develop home testing kits, rather than requiring analysis in laboratories, but so far these have proved unreliable.
The tests aim to establish whether a person has developed antibodies to the Covid-19 virus, usually after being infected by the disease, and is therefore immune from being infected again. On Friday, Quotient received
European regulatory approval for the Mosaiq serological screening machines with 100 per cent sensitivity and 99.8 per cent specificity, meaning there is a low chance of a misread or “false positive”.
Chief executive Franz Walt – who was managing director of a laboratory that developed the first diagnostic test for the Sars virus in 2003 – said: “We are truly proud to have developed such a fast and accurate test.
“This is an outstanding performance by our teams in both Edinburgh and Switzerland. We now want to make sure that we can help as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
“We have strong roots in the UK and want to speak to ministers there so Mosaiq can be used in the amazing national effort to tackle coronavirus and relaunch the economy.
“We realise ministers and the NHS are incredibly busy but are keen to talk given the strong interest from across Europe in the product.”
Ed Farrell, chief operating officer at the Edinburgh office, added: “We’re incredibly proud of all our work here in Scotland and Switzerland.
“We’ve got such a rich history here and we hope we can now make a difference at this challenging time.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Health Protection Scotland, with key partners, explore all options around new antibody tests as they become available on the market.
“The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government to ensure that everyone is able to access new antibody tests when they become available.
“It is essential that any new tests are reliable, and time is needed to undertake rigorous evaluation so that there is confidence that tests are accurate.”
Testing will be vital to tackle any “second wave” of infections, and Maria Van Kerkhove, World Health Organisation (WHO) technical lead on Covid-19, said that many people remain susceptible to the virus, even where transmission has been suppressed.
Asked on the BBC’S Andrew Marr programme if a second wave of infection could be likely in countries that have started to ease their lockdowns, Dr Van Kerkhove said: “It’s certainly possible. What we’re seeing in a number of countries that have been successful in suppressing transmission is that many more people remain susceptible.
“All countries must remain on alert for the possibility of additional transmission even if they have been successful in suppressing transmission in the first round.”
Following comments by Boris Johnson that face coverings will be “useful” as part of measures to come out of lockdown, Dr Van Kerkhove said that masks are recommended for those who are feeling unwell.
She said: “We do recommend the use of masks for people who are feeling unwell, but masks alone will not solve the problem, they cannot solve the problem, and especially if you’re thinking about lockdowns and you’re thinking of lifting lockdowns.
“There has to be a number of measures that have to be put in place before lockdowns can be released and it must be done in a staggered approach.”
Asked about the longerterm health impact of the virus, Dr Van Kerkhove said: “The majority of people who are infected with Covid-19 will make a full recovery.
“But there will be some people that may have some longer term effects.
“It affects the lungs, it affects the body in different ways and so we may see some damage to the lungs. We need to follow individuals over time. We’re in our fourth month of this pandemic so it’s very, very early days.”
Dr Van Kerkhove also addressed claims by US President Donald Trump that he had seen evidence the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
China denies the claims and the US director of national intelligence office has said analysts are still examining the exact origin of the outbreak.
Asked about the claim, which has been widely dismissed by the global scientific community, Dr Van Kerkhove said: “Coronaviruses normally circulate in animals and many are circulating in bats.
“Everything that we have seen about the novel coronavirus, Covid-19 or Sars-cov-2, of the tens of thousands of sequences that are available, full genome sequences and partial sequences, compared to other coronavirus sequences that are available, this is of a natural origin.
“And it originally comes from bats because the coronaviruses come from bats.
“What we need to do is really understand what we call the intermediate host – what is the animal that was infected from bats that potentially infected humans?
“It’s important that we know this because it’s very important we find the animal host so that we prevent this, (what) we call spill-over from transmission from an animal to a human, we prevent that spillover from happening again.”
“This is an outstanding performance by our teams in both Edinburgh and Switzerland. We now want to help as many people as possible” FRANZ WALT Quotient chief executive