Covid -19 : a Belgian serological test

17/04/2020

Biotechnology company ZenTech has developed a serological test that has already proved successful in China. According to Liège University Hospital (CHU), this test is very fast and reliable and could be crucial in the large-scale screening planned as part of strategy to lift confinement measures.

ZenTech was originally a biotechnology company based in Sart-Tilman, in the hills above Liège, that has specialised in the diagnosis of a range of different pathologies.

The Liège-based company has now developed a test that detects antibodies, in partnership with the Chinese company Zheda Dixun. The serological test does not detect the presence of the coronavirus itself, but it can determine whether a person has had an immune reaction and developed antibodies against Covid-19.  In short, this type of test takes less than 15 minutes to identify people who are immune and thus discover who is protected against the coronavirus and who is not. 

The CHU in Liège (which has also just developed its own screening test) has confirmed the total reliability of this technique, which has already been used to fight the epidemic in China.

Jean-Claude Havaux is confident, as "this test represents a huge health-related opportunity for managing the current pandemic or later, once lockdown restrictions are lifted. We are already receiving orders from around the world."