OpGen Launches Own-Developed CE-IVD Marked Molecular Diagnostic SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB in Europe

OpGen, Inc.’s (Gaithersburg, MD, USA) subsidiary Curetis GmbH (Holzgerlingen, Germany) has obtained the CE mark certification in the European Union for its own SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Developed and manufactured by Curetis’ team, the SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB uses real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology for qualitative detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus isolated from oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swab specimens from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider or for screening of asymptomatic individuals. The kit can be used with RNA isolated by performing standard RNA isolation processes, as well as with oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs collected in PCR compatible viral transport medium treated with PCR-Compatible Universal Lysis Buffer (PULB) provided in the kit. Including PULB in the kit as a workflow option allows labs to circumvent the need for extraction equipment and extraction kits/reagents, thereby providing operational and workflow efficiencies, time and cost savings. The kit is designed to provide time to results in approximately one hour, and it runs on open real-time PCR instruments such as the QuantStudio 5 Real-Time PCR System and the Bio-Rad CFX96 Real-Time PCR Detection System.

“The CE-IVD Marking is an important step in advancing our efforts to support critical COVID-19 testing; the Curetis SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB provides additional testing capacity in countries that recognize the CE Mark to test patients,” said Johannes Bacher, COO of OpGen, a precision medicine company harnessing the power of molecular diagnostics and bioinformatics to help combat infectious disease.

“By launching this new product in Europe, we are committed to helping our distributors and customers to expand the availability of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing, and our own-developed CE-IVD marked SARS-CoV-2 Kit with PULB is expected to help increase availability of these much-needed tests," said Oliver Schacht, PhD, CEO of OpGen. “Our customers will benefit from an optimized workflow and a test that delivers great performance and significantly shorter time-to-result at favorable economics compared to many of the commercially available open PCR platform COVID-19 tests including the BGI SARS-CoV-2 kit. Having access to our own SARS-CoV-2 kit allows us to have that product distributed rather than the BGI test kit which we will cease distributing effective immediately.”

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OpGen, Inc. 
Curetis GmbH