MiCo BioMed Co., Ltd. claimed on Wednesday that it recently developed a highly sensitive rapid molecular diagnostic system to confirm within an hour the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was first detected in Wuhan, China.
Mico BioMed, founded in March of 2009, develops and sells medical kits, ultrafast real-time polymerase chain reaction lab chips, ultra-fast lab chip real-time polymerase chain reaction equipment, and other products. The Konex-listed company situated in Seongnam manufactures medical equipment for production in Korea.
CEO Kim Sung-woo, a former Korean American scientist, leads the operations of MiCo BioMed, focusing on immunoassay diagnostics technology, molecular diagnostics, and biological chemistry.
The South Korean health care solutions provider said that the system could immediately detect the 2019-nCoV within one hour. The company will distribute the kit at port quarantine sites and airports besides health care centers.
The biotech company created 30 different varieties of high-risk pathogen diagnostic kits in collaboration with the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The company used a number of those kits to confirm the presence of bio-terrorism pathogens in vehicles during the 2017 World Cup Games, 2018 Winter Olympics, and 2019 Gwangju Asian Swimming Games.
MiCo BioMed also developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit to rapidly confirm with high accuracy the 2019-nCoV using the company’s LabChip-powered real-time PCR.
The real-time PCR system is currently awaiting the Emergency Use Approval from the KCDC.
The company said that it expects the systems to be utilized not only at health care facilities but also at harbors and airports as the virus can be rapidly identified within an hour.
In the near future, MiCo BioMed also hopes to apply the kits for other acute infectious diseases such as the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
MiCo BioMed recently passed the technical evaluation for relisting on Kosdaq with A grade.
