Seegene announced the commercialization of its second real-time assay based upon its new TOCE™ technology. The Anyplex™ II RV16 Detection Assay will provide clinicians with a powerful new tool to help prevent the spread of respiratory infections. The Anyplex II RV16 Detection Assay is the only multiplex real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test that can simultaneously detect 16 of the most common respiratory viruses from a wide range of specimen types, such as nasopharyngeal aspirates and swabs, or bronchoalveolar lavage samples. Effective and economical, this Seegene assay sets a new benchmark for rapid respiratory disease screening.
The Anyplex II RV16 Detection assay enables clinicians to simultaneously detect the presence of Influenza A virus, Influenza B virus, Human respiratory syncytial virus A, Human respiratory syncytial virus B, Human adenovirus, Human metapneumo virus, Human coronavirus 229E, Human coronavirus NL63, Human coronavirus OC43, Human parainfluenza virus 1, Human parainfluenza virus 2, Human parainfluenza virus 3, Human parainfluenza virus 4, Human rhinovirus A/B/C, Human enterovirus and Human bocavirus 1/2/3/4.
"Anyplex II RV16 Detection assay gives clinicians an advanced tool for making fast, accurate and cost-effective respiratory diagnoses," said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, Chief Executive Officer of Seegene. "The key to controlling influenza epidemics is the time it takes to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. With the Anyplex II RV16 Detection assay we have reduced test turn-around time significantly so that physicians can now make optimal healthcare treatment decisions within hours, positively impacting both the health of the patient and the economics of the healthcare system."
Viruses account for most upper respiratory tract infections, the most common infectious illness in the general population that can elicit a wide range of disease conditions. Infections can be highly variable depending on seasonal conditions with anywhere between 5% and 20% of a population affected during peak epidemics and mini-epidemics.
The diagnostic role of PCR assays for influenza is growing, though their performance for routine clinical use has been limited until now by the turn-around time (TAT) required. The Anyplex II RV16 Detection assay directly addresses this challenge by dramatically reducing TAT to less than 4 hours.
The Anyplex™ II RV16 Detection Assay is based on Seegene's recently introduced TOCE(TM) technology, which turns any real-time PCR instrument into a more powerful multiplexing platform. TOCE enables complex multiplexing in a single fluorescence channel, provides consistent Tm values regardless of the sequence variation of the target, and a level of sensitivity better than that of currently utilized probe-based singleplex real-time PCR assays.
The Anyplex™ II RV16 Detection Assay is currently unavailable in the USA until regulatory clearance.