AITBIOTECH Pte Ltd of Singapore is pleased to announce the signing of several Molecular Diagnostic (MDx) licenses from Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd. The licenses are mainly in MDx assays developed by Research Institutes under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). The assays include Dengue/Chikungunya Multiplex Detection Kits and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Detection Kit.
All these detection kits are used with real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) detection system manufactured and distributed by major international Life Science companies like Applied Biosytems, BioRad and Strategene. These assays are developed by a Senior Research Scientist, Project Director, Masafumi Inoue and his team from A*STAR’s Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC). Masafumi has spent more than 20 years in this area of research and his discovery and the development of the multiplex assays is the first in the world.
AITBIOTECH also acquired the license of the swine flu H1N1 whole Genome Mutation detection system, which is developed by Dr Christopher Wong and his team from the Genome Institute of Singapore. This detection system is able to rapidly detect any genetic mutation of the swine H1N1 virus genome using a simple molecular experiment procedure and easy to be scaled up as a high-throughput platform. Data analysis is done by a customised software. This detection system has been field tested on samples from Singapore and Mexico and has a call rate of 99% with accuracy >99.99%.
“The close collaboration between agencies including A*Star researchers and AITBIOTECH have enabled the joint development of these diagnostic kits in Singapore. These will directly benefit the health care sector both here and in the region, in the fight against infectious diseases. We are proud to play a 2 part in advancing the innovations of medical technology in Singapore!” said Mr Philip Lim, Chief Executive Officer of Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd.
Mr Alex Thian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AITBIOTECH, is equally excited about the technologies and the licenses, “The assays that we have licensed, gave AITBIOTECH a springboard into the highly competitive market of Molecular Diagnostics. The multiplex assays give hospital labs and clinicians a great time and cost saving tool to detect as well as differentiate the nature and type of influenza or dengue infection with enhanced high sensitivity and precision. This important information allows proper diagnosis as well as treatment of the patients.”
Presently, the assays have been adopted for use by several regional hospitals in Thailand. They are being evaluated by several other hospitals in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia as well.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Shirley Tan AITBiotech Pte Ltd Mobile: (65) 8323 6002 Email: shirley@aitbiotech.com
Ms Sabariah Aris Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (A member of A*STAR) Corporate Marketing and Communications DID: (65) 6478 8443 Mobile: (65) 8299 4400 Email: sabariah@exploit-tech.com
