The agreement signed on April 2nd between A. Menarini Diagnostics and Credo Diagnostics Biomedical establishes the exclusive distribution in most European countries of the Sars-Cov-2 diagnostic kit and other tests for the detection of respiratory infections. These kits will be run on VitaPCR ™, a portable platform that delivers results in 20 minutes.

The World Health Organization has pointed-out, since the very beginning of the outbreak, the need of focusing on rapid detection methods of COVID-19. 

Accurate and scalable tests performed at the points of care, represent an improvement in the patient’s condition monitoring outside the laboratory. Patient testing at the point of need – such as Sars-Cov-2 diagnostic kit – not only enables the early identification of COVID-19, but also allows the proper and immediate isolation of the patients, thus helping to control the infection.

The kit is based on the identification of the viral genome by using the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) technique: in particular, the kit was designed to be significantly faster than the vast majority of the traditional molecular laboratory tests. Moreover the small size of the platform, makes this solution ideal for the immediate use at healthcare facilities or other entry points.

“We strongly believe that the tests carried-out at the points of care with molecular diagnostics are the future”, said Winston Wong Jr., Chairman of Credo Diagnostic Biomedical.  

This diagnostic method fits in perfectly with the emergency caused by the pandemic: a practical, fast and compact test – the size of a dictionary– which allows “immediate diagnosis in contexts such as, for example, ER, pre-triage tents, and Intensive Care Units“, said Fabio Piazzalunga, General Manager of A.Menarini Diagnostics.

How the Test works

The diagnostic test consists in collecting biological (nasal or oropharyngeal) material and stiring the swab in the collection buffer with a special liquid, the solution obtained is then transferred to a new buffer, containing the reagent, and loaded into the VitaPCR ™ system for the analysis process. The result will be displayed in 20 minutes and will reveal the patient’s negativity or positivity to the virus.

“It is essential to reduce the time to diagnosis bringing the screening where it is needed and performing it quickly, with accurate technologies” said Fabio Piazzalunga. 

This is a new achievement for Menarini, which has started distributing the test in Italy and in the main European countries.

Menarini Group is once again alongside healthcare professionals and Institutions, also in the current and delicate phase of “coexistence with the virus”.

Discover our initiatives to fight Covid-19: the conversion of part of our factory in Florence into the production of hand sanitizer gel to be donated to hospitals and the Coronavirus Library dedicated to the whole scientific community and supervised by the Nobel Prize Louis J. Ignarro. 

1. Wang C et al., A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet 2020; 395(10223): 470.
2. Nguyen T et al., 2019 Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Paving the road for rapid detection and point-of-care diagnostics. Micromachines 2020; 11(3): 306.