Kantaro and Atrys Health Partnership Expand Global Footprint of Quantitative COVID-19 Antibody Tests in Europe and South America
February 08, 2021- Kantaro’s COVID-SeroKlir and COVID-SeroIndex are high-performing tests that detect the presence and precise level of neutralizing antibodies¹
- First and only quantitative COVID-19 antibody tests that do not require proprietary equipment
NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2021 — Kantaro Biosciences, LLC, a joint venture between the Mount Sinai Health System and RenalytixAI (LSE:RENX /NASDAQ: RNLX), and manufacturing partner Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH), entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with Atrys Health (BME: ATRY), a biomedical company dedicated to providing diagnostic services and medical treatments of excellence. Atrys Health will offer COVID-SeroKlir and COVID-SeroIndex, Kantaro’s quantitative SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody test kits, in select European and South American territories, including Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Chile.
The Kantaro tests have received a CE Mark for detecting the presence and precise level of neutralizing IgG antibodies that are produced as part of the immune response to COVID-19 virus exposure. The Kantaro tests are also the first and only quantitative antibody tests that do not require proprietary equipment, meaning they can be run easily in any approved clinical laboratory. Quantitative testing for neutralizing antibodies can inform healthcare decision-making and public health policies worldwide.
“Atrys Health is the latest in a growing list of high-quality distribution partners. This agreement represents another critical step forward in bringing the Kantaro quantitative antibody tests to doctors, patients and researchers in regions affected by COVID-19,” said Sara Barrington, Kantaro’s chief commercial officer. “We believe this type of antibody testing is increasingly relevant at this point in the pandemic to provide peace of mind and answer important questions about vaccine response, longevity and immunity.”
Isabel Lozano, CEO of Atrys Health, said: “Our partnership with Kantaro diversifies and widens our portfolio of diagnostics at the forefront of innovation. We humbly embrace the opportunity to make the Kantaro quantitative antibody tests available to our customers in Europe and South America and be part of the global effort to increase testing and begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
COVID-SeroKlir and COVID-SeroIndex are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) that have demonstrated 97.8% sensitivity and 99.6% specificity for detecting COVID-19 IgG antibodies, making them highly accurate with low potential for false results. The high precision results from a two-step process that utilizes two virus antigens: the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and the full-length spike protein.
The underlying technology in the Kantaro quantitative antibody test is based on research performed at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. The Mount Sinai technology has already been used in a highly diverse population of over 86,000 patient samples to screen for convalescent plasma donors and determine past infections in the clinical assessment of potentially life-threatening complications from COVID-19, including lung, kidney and cardiovascular disease. This technology has been utilized extensively in peer-reviewed research published in Science and Nature.
About Kantaro Biosciences
Kantaro Biosciences, a joint venture between the Mount Sinai Health System and RenalytixAI plc, is dedicated to ensuring that high-quality diagnostic tests for critical health challenges are accessible. The company provides rigorous, results-driven and reproducible diagnostics to advance the care and well-being of people, communities and society. Kantaro specializes in the rapid scale-up of groundbreaking diagnostic innovations and the creation of partnerships to bring these crucial technologies to market. For more information, visit www.kantarobio.com and follow Kantaro on Twitter @kantarobio.
About Bio-Techne Corporation
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has over 2,300 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit www.bio-techne.com.