High Sheriff of West Sussex looks at the work of the biotech industry, after taking a coronavirus antibody test

High Sheriff of West Sussex Dr Tim Fooks, in his weekly briefing on projects in the county, talks about the biotech industry, having had a coronavirus antibody blood test, and looks at the work going on in our county.
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On Friday, I had a coronavirus antibody blood test at my practice in Pulborough. This has just been made available to NHS frontline workers and, if positive, indicates that I will have been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus at some point in the past, whether I have had symptoms or not.

This test is extremely important because it is going to help us to develop an even more accurate picture of the number of people who have been infected by the virus. Furthermore, it will also help us to answer some of the current mysteries about the infection, such as ‘if I have had Covid-19, can I get it again?’ and ‘will a vaccine give me long-term protection?’.

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The Government has bought millions of these critically-important tests from two companies, one of which has its UK base in West Sussex, in Burgess Hill, Roche Diagnostics.

An Optigene mobile team testing at a care homeAn Optigene mobile team testing at a care home
An Optigene mobile team testing at a care home

Roche Diagnostics is a Swiss company which has been developing tests needed in medicine for 125 years and it now operates across the world. In the UK, it collaborates with many laboratories and has factories in Switzerland and Germany.

Geoff Twist, Roche’s UK managing director, told me that he was very proud of the way his company had been able to respond to meet the challenge of Covid.

Within an absolutely remarkable seven weeks, Roche’s scientists were able to create an antibody test which is 99.8 per cent specific for SARS-CoV-2 virus. This means that a positive Roche antibody test indicates that only the SARS-CoV-2 infection has occurred rather than one of the other similar viruses that can cause much less dangerous infections.

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A positive result also tells us that a good immune response has been developed. However, the test cannot yet tell us how long immunity might last and, if the test is done too soon (less than 14 days) after the infection, it may not pick up every case.

Roche Diagnostics antibody test analyserRoche Diagnostics antibody test analyser
Roche Diagnostics antibody test analyser

Roche is also one of a number of companies to produce a viral swab test which tells us if a patient is currently infected. Once again, Roche took only 41 days to develop their version of the test, which is an extraordinary achievement. Only a few years ago, this would have taken many months.

But West Sussex is also home to another biotech industry hero of the Covid crisis. Optisense is based in Horsham and, over the past 12 years, it has become a global expert in the design and manufacture of rapid, site-based, tests for infections in veterinary medicine and plant health.

Michael Andreou, the managing director, told me that, as soon as the coronavirus started to appear, he realised that his technology was going to be needed in human medicine as well. And by linking-up Optisense with Genesys, a molecular biology tech firm based in Surrey, the two companies were able to produce the rapid Optigene coronavirus test as early as April.

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Most tests take between two and four days to come back but using the Optisense Genie III device, the Optigene test takes just 20 minutes, making it particularly useful to hospitals, care-homes and transport centres, who need to ensure their patients and passengers are clear before an operation or travel.

From Roche Diagnostics, the covid antibody (white) alongside coronavirus (purple)From Roche Diagnostics, the covid antibody (white) alongside coronavirus (purple)
From Roche Diagnostics, the covid antibody (white) alongside coronavirus (purple)

When I asked Michael how it was possible to achieve so much so quickly, he memorably replied ‘because we can, we did’.

The ingenuity and skill of these two ultra-modern biotech companies based in West Sussex are truly impressive. They are both crucially important in ensuring that the UK can overcome this dangerous virus as quickly as possible. And for this, we owe them our heartfelt, but still socially-distanced, thanks.

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The Optisense Genie III deviceThe Optisense Genie III device
The Optisense Genie III device
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