[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical and BlueberryNFT (formerly Gyeongnam Biopharma) announced on the 3rd that they have completed the joint patent application for the ‘Colorimetric-Fluorescent Immunodiagnostic Sensor for Detecting Antibodies of the COVID-19 Virus,’ a highly sensitive optical-based immunodiagnostic platform capable of rapid diagnosis of novel and variant coronaviruses, in collaboration with Korea University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has prolonged and become normalized, the market related to COVID-19 self-diagnostic kits has recently gained attention. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is actively promoting the introduction of COVID-19 self-diagnostic kits, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 23rd that it approved two antigen diagnostic kits for COVID-19 self-testing on the condition of submitting additional clinical performance test data within three months. For COVID self-diagnostic kits, sales are permitted not only in pharmacies but also online.
This patented technology is a new optical-based immunodiagnostic technology that combines the conventional colorimetric analysis method based on antibody-antigen reactions with a fluorescent analysis method based on the optical phenomena of metal nanostructures, creating a dual-mode self-diagnostic kit production technology. It enables faster and more accurate detection of viruses present in a patient’s body fluids.
In particular, the most notable feature of this diagnostic kit is the introduction of the dual (colorimetric-fluorescent) antibody diagnostic system along with the MEF (Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence) new technology into the coronavirus diagnostic kit, which improves the sensitivity of antibody detection in COVID-infected individuals by more than 100 times through signal amplification compared to existing fluorescent analysis methods. As a result, unlike previous methods that made it difficult to determine early symptoms of coronavirus infection, this technology enhances the possibility of early diagnosis of the disease onset.
Meanwhile, Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical and BlueberryNFT are jointly reviewing various additional research plans to apply this technology directly to samples from actual COVID-19 infected patients, shorten the antibody analysis time within the body to within 10 to 15 minutes, and develop module optimization and standardization technologies for commercialization accompanied by overseas expansion of this technology.
A representative from Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical stated, "Through this research, we have successfully developed the ‘COVID-19 self-diagnostic kit,’ and we will continue to cooperate jointly with the two research teams to ensure that Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical and BlueberryNFT stand out in the future expanding market of ‘various disease self-diagnostic kits.’"
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