Avacta Group and Bruker will collaborate to evaluate the Affimer-based, bead assisted mass spectrometry (BAMS) SARS-CoV-2 assay the group has developed with Adeptrix.
Avacta worked with Adeptrix to develop a coronavirus antigen test that combines enrichment of the sample using Affimer reagents with mass-spectrometry. Up to 1,000 samples per day can be analysed by a single technician using a BAMS assay, the companies claim, making BAMS a potentially attractive high throughput technique for COVID-19 screening in the clinical setting.
Having developed a prototype test with Adeptrix, Avacta, has been working with its clinical partners in the UK to refine the assay to fit into the typical workflows in a clinical microbiology laboratory. Bruker will help to will assess the suitability of the test as a professional-use in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) product for SARS-CoV-2 infection to run on Bruker’s MALDI-TOF instruments.
Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group, commented: “I am delighted to have established this collaboration agreement with Bruker to further develop the potential for the BAMS COVID-19 test as a clinical IVD. We will be working closely with Bruker on the clinical assessment of the BAMS assay on Bruker’s MALDI-TOF instruments.
“Our objective is to work with Bruker and our clinical partners to deliver an effective and high throughput assay protocol, that can be applied in the clinical setting, with the required sensitivity and specificity and CE/FDA approvals to provide a useful additional diagnostic tool in the fight against the coronavirus.
”I look forward to updating the market when we have definitive clinical performance data.”