NEW YORK ─ Microbix Biosystems and Seegene Canada on Monday announced a collaboration that enables Seegene to distribute Microbix's COVID-variant Quality Assessment Products (QAPs) to monitor the workflow accuracy of Seegene Allplex assays across Canada.
Seegene Canada will become a distributor of Microbix's whole-genome COVID-variant QAPs for use with Seegene molecular assays that detect the more-contagious emerging strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, initially the Brazilian, South African, and UK variants, the firms said.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Toronto-based Seegene Canada is a subsidiary of Seoul, South Korea-based Seegene, which manufactures the Seegene Allplex assays.
The assays in combination with the QAPs can be used to assess the prevalence of viral variants in populations of patients and become an alternative to genomic-sequencing of patient samples for that purpose, the firms added. Knowledge of the presence and proportion of viral variants is critical for public health decisions related to lockdowns and the timing and extent of reopenings, the firms said.
The Seegene Allplex variant kits are available in Canada for research use only. Microbix's QAPs are available for use with PCR-based and antigen-based SARS-CoV-2 assays, in refrigerator-stable liquid vials and with Copan FloqSwabs at room temperature. ProceeDx QAPs produced by Ontario, Canada-based Microbix are research-use-only samples, while its ReDx-brand QAPs are in-vitro diagnostic controls.