Celltrion Supplies COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kits to the US... Up to 730 Billion KRW Deal

Starting Next Month on the 1st, 25,000 Procurement Sites Including Military Facilities and Nursing Homes Across the U.S. Will Receive Supplies on a Weekly Basis

Celltrion COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kit Diatrust (Photo by Celltrion)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Celltrion's COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic kit 'DiaTrust,' co-developed with Humasis, has been finally selected as a supplier in the procurement project conducted by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) under the U.S. Department of Defense. Accordingly, Celltrion will supply the DiaTrust antigen rapid diagnostic kits to 25,000 procurement sites across the United States until September next year. The contract amount is up to 700 billion KRW, the largest scale among the selected suppliers this time.

Celltrion's U.S. subsidiary, CelltrionUSA, announced on the 23rd that it will start weekly supply of the DiaTrust antigen rapid diagnostic kits to 25,000 designated procurement sites in the U.S., including military facilities, nursing homes, local testing centers, and major facilities, as early as the 1st of next month. The contract period is until September 16 next year. A Celltrion official said, "The contract amount may increase up to 738.2 billion KRW depending on the situation," adding, "It is a very rare case where a Korean company won the largest contract in a large-scale procurement project by the U.S. Department of Defense, which involved many global companies."

Celltrion explained that it is especially meaningful that the contract was concluded despite the application of the 'Buy American Act' in this bidding. This law grants additional points to products made by American companies or produced within the U.S., and is considered the most influential law affecting success in the U.S. federal government procurement market. In fact, existing COVID-19 rapid diagnostic kit supply contracts have mainly been dominated by some large multinational pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. Celltrion was selected as the final supplier by participating in the bidding after meeting the minimum bidding requirements, as Korea is a member of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements (FTA).

Unlike other rapid diagnostic kits, DiaTrust applies two antibodies that bind respectively to the N protein and S protein of the COVID-19 virus, improving sensitivity and specificity. It allows immediate confirmation of infection status after testing without additional equipment, showing an accuracy level of 93.3% sensitivity and 99.0% specificity. Infection status can be confirmed within 15 minutes.

According to usage approval, it is divided into POCT (Point-Of-Care Test) use, which can be used with the help of medical professionals, and over-the-counter (OTC) home self-test kits. In this contract, the POCT product, which obtained emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April, will be supplied.

A Celltrion official stated, "By participating as a supplier in the U.S. Department of Defense procurement project, which has strict standards, Celltrion's technological capabilities and supply capacity have been recognized," adding, "As the spread of variant viruses is becoming serious worldwide, we plan to focus on fulfilling this supply contract to further strengthen external trust in Celltrion's diagnostic kit products."