Press release: New scientific reports demonstrate the high accuracy of mariPOC COVID-19 tests in decentralized testing
Turku, Finland, October 24th, 2022 – the Finnish medical device manufacturer ArcDia International Ltd reports of two new scientific publications in high impact journals. The studies evaluated ArcDia’s automated mariPOC® COVID-19 rapid tests against qRT-PCR laboratory tests. According to the data, the accuracy of the tests is extremely high, close to 100%. High performance in combination with ease of use and affordable cost structure enable health care operators to make professional testing more accessible.
According to recent scientific evidence, rapid antigen test methods are ideal, more accurate and more effective in infection control than central laboratory testing by nucleic acid amplification methods. The mariPOC evaluation studies confirm this by demonstrating very high specificity and sensitivity in detecting individuals who are in the acute phase of the disease and are most likely to be infectious. The tests work equally on subjects who have symptoms and on those who are asymptomatic. The data means that antigen testing can be used with high accuracy also to assess health security (infectiousness) of individuals.
The report by researchers in Prague (Czech Republic) university hospital (in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses journal) shows that mariPOC SARS-CoV-2 test is highly specific (99.8%), sensitive on both Delta and Omicron variants, and sensitive in identifying symptomatic and mildly symptomatic individuals.
The report of a prospective study performed in Kaarina (Finland) municipal main healthcare station (in Journal of Medical Virology) shows that mariPOC SARS-CoV-2 test is extremely specific (100%, N=916) and sensitive in screening of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in the acute and contagious phase. The authors conclude “the mariPOC test system is practicable in small and medium-sized laboratories as well as Health Care Centers…”.
“The new publications demonstrate once again the high performance of automated rapid testing and wipe away the remaining concerns about the performance of antigen testing. Professional rapid testing, especially with syndromic panels, is the best tool to support physicians in their decision making.
‒ Dr. Janne Koskinen, Head of R&D at ArcDia ‒
When comparing the results of qRT-PCR and antigen tests, one should always pay attention to the PCR Ct values, i.e. the number of amplification cycles. Those samples that give positive result with Ct value > 30 have an increased risk of being false positives in assessing infectiousness and acute disease. In such a case, a negative result obtained with rapid test may be clinically more accurate. The results of mariPOC COVID-19 tests at Ct level <30 in different settings and with different variants have been very well repeatable.
While rapid home use COVID-19 tests are now available everywhere, they often return a negative result despite the patient has symptoms. For this reason, health care professionals prefer syndromic tests which detect multiple pathogens from a single sample. With multianalyte tests, the true cause of the disease can most often be detected at once. However, such tests have not been easily and affordably available for the public at large.
ArcDia International Ltd
ArcDia International Ltd develops, manufactures and markets mariPOC® worldwide. The company based in Turku, Finland, started operations in 2008 and employs 30 professionals. ArcDia is the developer and manufacturer of the mariPOC® IVD platform – an automated system designed for rapid multianalyte identification of pathogens, and detection of inflammation markers and antimicrobial resistance. mariPOC® products enable central laboratory level quality, performance and pathogen coverage for primary health and emergency care units. The current mariPOC® applications cover respiratory tract infections, including COVID-19, pharyngitis and gastrointestinal infections. mariPOC COVID-19 tests have been listed in the best A category by the European Commission rapid antigen test listing. More information about ArcDia, including mariAST® developed for rapid phenotypic antibiotic resistance testing, and mariCloud™ for real-time epidemiological surveillance is available from company web page.
Further information:
Dr. Mr. Janne Koskinen
Head of R&D and marketing
ArcDia International Ltd
E-mail: firstname.surename[at]arcdia.com
Links to new publications
Kaarina study
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmv.28189
Prague study
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.13048