The IBSA Group has committed to contributing to a study on the development of seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2 virus in the population of the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland by donating 7,000 rapid serology tests. A commitment to the Medical Office of the Canton and a commitment to the entire local community. The aim of the initiative is to better understand the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic and, in particular, to determine how many people have developed antibodies to the virus, monitoring antibody development in positive subjects during the observation period. This will thus identify how long antibodies remain in subjects who have developed them and the percentage of people who, although they may not have developed symptoms, have an antibody response (asymptomatic individuals).
To conduct the study, a sample of 1,500 volunteers highly representative of the population of the Canton will be selected and each of the volunteers will undergo the serology test provided by IBSA and produced by the company Technogenetics based in Milan. The same sample will be tested four times during one calendar year in order to track antibody development. All the data collected will be analysed according to medical and statistical parameters. The Medical Officer of the Canton, Dr Giorgio Merlani, says “These findings will be useful in preventing and controlling the current epidemic, protecting the health of the entire population of Ticino and beyond”.
According to Tiziano Fossati, Head of R&D Pharmaceutical at IBSA, “The Canton of Ticino is one of the first places in Europe to conduct this kind of study. Through this courageous decision, the Canton has chosen to act promptly and with the means currently available to conduct an in-depth study, data from which will be available to the region and to the international scientific community in a relatively short time”.