Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, January 21 2021 - 19:00
AsiaNet
LumiraDx Receives SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test Authorization in Japan and Brazil; Italy Recommends Expansion of Microfluidic Antigen Testing
LONDON, Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

LumiraDx, the next-generation point-of-care diagnostic testing company, 
announced today multinational approvals of its SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test. With 
approvals in Japan and Brazil, the fast, accurate LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen 
Test is now available to patients in more than 30 nations worldwide. In 
addition to these authorizations, the Italian Association for Clinical 
Microbiology recently published testing guidelines favorable to next-generation 
microfluidic technology – like LumiraDx's – for COVID-19 testing. 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1231165/LumiraDx_Logo.jpg

The LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test is a microfluidic immunofluorescence assay 
designed to detect SARS-CoV-2 antigen in nasal or nasopharyngeal swab 
specimens, with high sensitivity results in 12 minutes from sample application. 

On January 19th, LumiraDx became the first foreign company to receive approval 
for its SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test from Japan's Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices 
Agency ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3043067-1&h=1063671998&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pmda.go.jp%2Fenglish%2Fabout-pmda%2Foutline%2F0005.html&a=Pharmaceutical+and+Medical+Devices+Agency 
) (PMDA). On January 18th, The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3043067-1&h=1689191802&u=http%3A%2F%2Fantigo.anvisa.gov.br%2Fen%2Fenglish&a=Brazilian+Health+Regulatory+Agency 
), or ANVISA (Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria), issued approval for 
the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test. In order to achieve authorization, 
LumiraDx conducted several studies and underwent an audit by the regulatory 
authorities. The company plans to launch shortly in both Japan and Brazil, 
initially supplying its antigen test to hospitals to help with the current 
rapid COVID-19 spread.   

In further validation of the advantages of the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen 
Test, the Italian Association for Clinical Microbiology ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3043067-1&h=2005569760&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amcli.it%2F&a=Italian+Association+for+Clinical+Microbiology 
) (AMCLI-IT) published new guidelines on January 4th encouraging use of 
microfluidic technology. AMCLI-IT found "antigenic tests with fluorescence 
reading have better performance (compared to other antigenic tests) and 
especially those of more recent introduction (immunofluorescence with 
microfluidic reading) seem to show results superimposable to those of the 
real-time RT-PCR assay." Based on the AMCLI-IT position, the Italian Ministry 
of Health stated that microfluidic antigen tests with fluorescence reading 
appear to be a valid alternative to RT-PCR, and unlike lateral flow tests, do 
not require confirmation of a positive result with RT-PCR and may even serve as 
an alternative confirmatory test to RT-PCR.* 

The LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test is currently commercially available in the 
US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. The LumiraDx Platform – 
comprised of a small, portable instrument; microfluidic test strip; and secure 
cloud-based connectivity – provides fast, accurate diagnostic test results to 
patients in community care settings. 

The LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test is authorized for use by FDA under an 
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) only for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 
nucleocapsid protein. It has not been authorized for use to detect any other 
viruses or pathogens.  The LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test is authorized in 
the United States for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist 
justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostic tests for 
detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Act, 21 
U.S.C. section 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the authorization is terminated or 
revoked sooner.

*If the clinical conditions of the patient show discrepancies with the 
microfluidic antigen test with fluorescence reading, RT-PCR remains the gold 
standard for the confirmation of Covid-19.

About LumiraDx
LumiraDx was founded in 2014 by a group of entrepreneurs: Ron Zwanziger, our 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Dave Scott, Ph.D., our Chief Technology 
Officer; and Jerry McAleer, Ph.D., our Chief Scientist, who have a successful 
track record in building and scaling diagnostics businesses over three decades, 
including at companies such as Medisense, Inc., Inverness Medical Technology 
Inc. and Alere Inc. The company is supported by institutional and strategic 
investors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Morningside Ventures, 
U.S. Boston Capital Corporation, and Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management. 
Based in the UK and supported by its worldwide affiliates to provide access in 
all major markets, LumiraDx has over 1000 employees worldwide.

LumiraDx develops, manufactures and commercializes an innovative point-of-care 
diagnostic Platform. The LumiraDx Platform is designed to deliver lab 
comparable diagnostic results at the point of care in minutes. It is designed 
to be affordable and accessible for healthcare providers globally, and to 
strengthen community-based healthcare. 

Further information on LumiraDx and the LumiraDx Platform is available at 
lumiradx.com.

SOURCE  LumiraDx

CONTACT: Cassandra Hoch, Media@LumiraDx.com | 920.382.8708
Translations

Japanese