GC MS and Genecast said they would join forces to develop a new COVID-19 detection kit. GC MS will take charge of commercialization, manufacturing, and sales, and Genecast will develop the new detection kit.

GC headquarters in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

Through experiences in commercializing various detection kits such as influenza, tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis detection kits as well as cancer gene mutation detection kits, the two companies expect they will be able to develop the equipment more quickly.

The product in development, named “GCare SARS-coV-2,” is a diagnostic reagent for COVID-19 based on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The kit diagnoses the virus by taking a sample from the upper and lower respiratory tract of a patient and amplifying a specific gene sequence of the COVID-19 virus.

Genecast plans to apply its allele-discriminating priming system (ADPS), which is an ultra-sensitive DNA polymerase technology, to developing the kit.

As ADPS technology uses 561 gene data of COVID-19, which is continuously undergoing mutation, Genecast expects that its kit will further improve the diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19.

“As part of the open innovation strategy pursued by GC MS, we expect that this cooperation will show greater synergy as it combines the development capabilities of both companies,” GC MS CEO Ahn Eun-uk said. “We will try to develop a diagnostic system that wins global recognition as soon as possible.”

Genecast CEO Baek Seung Chan said, “We can assure the quality of the product as we will apply liquid biopsy cancer diagnostic technology, which is the most difficult diagnostic techniques among nucleic acid diagnostics technology.”

Genecast has decided to work with GC MS to ensure that COVID-19 is appropriately controlled, Baek added.

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