CYBERJAYA:Malaysia's homegrown COVID-19 test kit - ImmuSAFE - which is able to detect and quantify an individual's antibody protective level of the disease was launched here today.<br /> <br /> Developed jointly by the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) and Sengenics Sdn Bhd, ImmuSAFE is the world’s first lab-based, multi-antigen and multi-domain COVID-19 serology test (examination of blood serum), which enables high-throughput screening of COVID-19 samples for diagnosis of current or prior infection. <br /> <br /> MARii chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Madani Sahari at the launch here today said the test kit had a 100 per cent sensitivity and specificity validated by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR), an agency under the Health Ministry (MOH).<br /> <br /> Based on tests conducted on 5,000 samples during the development of ImmuSAFE, the test results could be obtained within a few hours, he said.<br /> <br /> “ImmuSAFE test is not going to replace Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests but I would say this is a supplementary test that can give a complete image whether a person has been infected.<br /> <br /> “If ImmuSAFE test and RT-PCR are combined together, it would be the perfect solution to understand the status whether you are being infected or not with COVID-19,” he told reporters after the launch.<br /> <br /> Madani said they were still waiting for approval from the Medical Device Authority (MDA) under the MOH before it can be made available in the market.<br /> <br /> He also disclosed that an application called ImmuSAFE Tracker that has intelligent contact tracing capabilities based on MARii readily available big data analytics and artificial intelligence platforms is being developed.<br /> <br /> "This application will be able to track the mobility and contact tracing information of individuals, as well as employee logs, supply chain information, standard operating procedure (SOP) enforcement of businesses – all the forementioned in real-time," he said.<br /> <br /> The application also can be integrated with more advanced tracing technology such as facial recognition and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, he said.<br /> <br /> “The big data analytics technology would enable predictive modelling and simulations of outbreak patterns from new infection clusters,” he added.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Sengenics Sdn Bhd CEO Dr Arif Anwar revealed that they spent about five months to develop ImmuSAFE test kits.<br /> <br /> “We are proud to be a part of this partnership with MARii and IMR and appreciate the support and technical expertise of both parties throughout the development and validation of the ImmuSAFE COVID-19 test kit,” he said.<br /> <br /> Sengenics is a Functional Proteomics company that leverages its patented KREX technology to discover autoantibody biomarker signatures for prediction of drug response and severe immune-related adverse events.<br /> <br /> -- BERNAMA