Alkor Bio Group has completed tests of the Intifica SARS-CoV-2 test system, developed in 2020, for its ability to detect the Omicron strain. The tests were successful, the company's press service told Made in Russia.

"We were able to test on real samples positive for SARS-CoV-2 and characterized as Omicron by sequencing. All targets were detected with equal efficiency. The presence of multiple described mutations does not affect the diagnostic performance of the kit," said Anastasia Lisok, head of the Alkor Bio PCR laboratory.

In its PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, Alkor Bio, like many manufacturers, uses the ORF1ab and N subgenomic RNA loci of the virus as targets. However, the company's developers added a third target, ORF8 . This locus is a distinctive feature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and other coronaviruses that cause human ARVI are either absent or highly altered. This allowed us to significantly increase the specificity and reliability of the test, the press service explained.

"Thus, "Intifica SARS-CoV-2" set of reagents produced by "Alkor Bio" GC using three SARS-CoV-2-specific targets can be used not only as the main one to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus, but also as a confirmatory one, if, say, a lab technician working on other test systems has doubts about the reliability of a particular result", - the company added.

At the moment the group of companies is the largest biotechnological holding in the North-West of Russia. The holding unites 12 companies and is well known on the market as one of the leading Russian producers of reagents for immunoenzymometric analysis.

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Author: Karina Kamalova