Medicox and Plexens Sign Exclusive Domestic and European Distribution Agreement for Saliva Antigen COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] MedicoX, a KOSDAQ-listed company, announced on the 10th that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement to sell and distribute diagnostic kit products from Plexense, a diagnostic kit R&D specialized company, throughout South Korea and all of Europe.

The purpose of this contract, aimed at the smooth domestic and international export and distribution of Plexense's self-developed COVID-19 diagnostic kit products, is for MedicoX to leverage its bio business network to actively engage in comprehensive product sales. Furthermore, both companies have agreed to comprehensive cooperation across the bio business sector, including the development and manufacturing of diagnostic kit products and analytical equipment, as well as new drug development utilizing Plexense's new drug screening technology.

Plexense is a company that developed COVID-19 serum antibody diagnostic kits, saliva antigen diagnostic kits, and serum neutralizing antibody diagnostic kits by receiving technology transfers for COVID-19 antigen and neutralizing antibody from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology and the Osong Advanced Medical Industry Promotion Foundation under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, respectively. Recently, Plexense completed the development of a saliva antigen diagnostic kit product capable of large-scale group testing through mass specimen collection with a clinical accuracy level of 91.6%, and is currently preparing for export approval and European certification (CE), advancing its entry into overseas markets.

The saliva antigen diagnostic kit independently developed by Plexense applies its own technology on the Rapid ELISA platform, offering price competitiveness with testing costs about one-fifth of existing PCR-based COVID-19 diagnostic kits. The company explained that this diagnostic kit can provide results for 92 individuals within 2 hours even in a large-scale diagnostic system through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analytical equipment, making it a highly efficient product for proactive quarantine systems.

A MedicoX official stated, “Since the Plexense diagnostic kit products, which we will distribute and sell under the exclusive distribution agreement, must be refrigerated and distributed at 2?8 degrees Celsius, we plan to directly handle product distribution by actively utilizing our extensive bio business network, including cold chain systems.” He added, “We will strive to ensure that Plexense products are actively distributed domestically and internationally to schools, companies, military personnel, hospitals, and more.”