NEW YORK ─ The US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced Tuesday that it has awarded $820,000 to DiaSorin to develop an immunoassay that detects antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in the serum or plasma of a person recently infected with the coronavirus.
BARDA said the project is an expansion of an existing partnership between it and the Saluggia, Italy-based diagnostic company.
DiaSorin aims to develop the Liaison SARS-CoV-2 TrimericS IgG assay, a fully automated chemiluminescent immunoassay for the semiquantitative detection of IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and seek regulatory authorizations for the test in the US and worldwide, BARDA said.
By enabling semi-quantitative monitoring of immune status, the test would overcome limitations of DiaSorin's Liaison SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG assay.
If a COVID-19 vaccine receives authorization or approval, the new test could provide critical information to essential workers, people with a compromised immune system, and others, BARDA said.
In October, DiaSorin announced that it had received the CE mark for a high-throughput rapid antigen test for the quantitative detection of SARS-CoV-2.