Scientific Paper Available on Development and Validation of IMMUNO-COV™, Vyriad’s SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Neutralizing Antibody Test

May 28, 2020, Imanis Life Sciences, Rochester MN

Vyriad and Imanis Life Sciences announced today the publication of a scientific paper on the development and validation of IMMUNO-COV™, a high-throughput clinical test to quantitatively measure SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies, the specific subset of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies that block viral infection. The paper is available on bioRxiv, a free online archive and distribution service for non-peer-reviewed manuscripts in the life sciences.

The paper is titled, “Development and validation of IMMUNO-COV™: a high-throughput clinical assay for detecting antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2.” bioRxiv accepts non-peer-reviewed articles to facilitate the rapid sharing of new scientific information about COVID-19 and other life sciences areas of research.

The disease-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus uses its spike protein to infect healthy cells and spread throughout the body. The IMMUNO-COV antibody test uses an innocuous virus that has been engineered to carry this SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein on its surface. It analyzes human blood serum to detect only the antibodies capable of ‘blocking’ the action of this spike glycoprotein, thus preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting new cells. This is distinct from most existing serology tests which do not confirm the virus-neutralizing function of antibodies they detect. News release.

Vyriad and Imanis Life Sciences developed the assay in collaboration with Regeneron and the Mayo Clinic.