A Dartford-based diagnostics company has teamed up with researchers from Oxford University to create a new antibody test to aid the Covid-19 response.

Roll-out of the Pfizer Covid vaccine is already underway but much of the public won’t be able to get jabbed for months yet.

In the meantime, as efforts are made to curb a rise in coronavirus cases – including a new strain spreading predominately in Kent and the South East – scientists continue to research and attempt to better understand individual immune responses to Covid-19 infection.

Biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific announced earlier this month it had developed a new antibody test at its Dartford lab that will help doctors to identify patients with an immune response both before and after vaccination.

Once hailed by the government as a potential "gamechanger", antibody tests have played only a minor role in the response to the pandemic to date.

This is partly because research is still ongoing into whether those who have had the virus develop long-lasting immunity that would prevent them from getting reinfected again.

Efforts to understand immune responses are set to be aided by more vaccine approvals – including Pfizer's earlier this month which professes to have 90 percent effectiveness in preventing people from getting sick with Covid-19.

However, the question of the duration of the vaccine's level of protection and its effectiveness against any new variants remains with its co-creators BioNTech saying they are "confident" but further studies are needed.

And while it would appear the virus is still spreading faster than it mutates – which likely means we won’t need new immunisations every year – a deeper understanding is needed.

This is where Thermo Fisher believes its new Immunoglobulin ELISA test may be of assistance.

The test measures the number of antibodies the body produces – which help fight off the virus and are detectable in the blood in the first few weeks after infection.

It will aid doctors and healthcare professionals in correctly identifying patients with an effective immune response against the disease through either communal exposure or vaccination.

Additional data on a person's immune response to the virus will also prove crucial in monitoring the effectiveness of different Covid vaccines as and when they become available, scientists say.

The new technology is a result of a collaborative partnership between academic researchers at the University of Oxford and Thermo Fisher scientists working from Crossways Boulevard.

The Dartford site employs 137 people and is a global centre of excellence in the manufacture of medical diagnostics, selling to 127 countries worldwide.

Its experience has enabled the team to respond rapidly and develop a high-quality test that is now accredited to CE mark standards, the benchmark for EU rules on health and safety and environmental protection.

“Thermo Fisher Scientific is proud to have developed and delivered this CE marked product in collaboration with Oxford University,” said Mark Stevenson, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Thermo Fisher.

“Combining the academic research capabilities of world recognized scientists at Oxford University with Thermo Fisher’s Dartford UK development and manufacturing facility has expanded our serology portfolio for improved Covid-19 epidemiological studies.”

Thermo Fisher’s new testing platform is already in use by Oxford University and provides weekly UK-wide data to the Office of National Statistics as part of the national Covid-19 Infection Survey.

In addition, the firm said researchers at the University of Oxford – which is partnered with AstraZeneca in working to develop another Covid-19 vaccine – are now using its antibody test to enhance its assessment of immune responses as part of clinical trials.

"As we follow individuals over the course of a year, we are repeatedly testing them for both virus and antibodies.”

The new testing platform enables the Oxford University team to deliver Covid-19 testing capacity of up to 50,000 tests per day.

Dr. Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and chief investigator of the national Covid-19 infection survey said: “Using this test within the Covid-19 Infection Survey allows us to answer vital questions about the role of previous infection and varying levels of antibody response in protecting people from getting infected again in the future.

"As we follow individuals over the course of a year, we are repeatedly testing them for both virus and antibodies.”

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