Celltrion revises deal with U.S. client to ship new rapid COVID-19 antigen test kit

SEOUL -- Celltrion, a leading biotech company in South Korea, will ship Diatrust, a COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit capable of yielding results in 15 minutes without additional equipment in a revised deal with its American client who wants quick delivery.

Under a deal worth 240 billion won ($218 million), Diatrust will be exclusively supplied to Prime Healthcare Distributors, a wholesale distributor based in New York, Celltrion said in a statement on December 18. Celltrion has developed the rapid antigen test kit through cooperation with Humasis, an in vitro diagnostic medical device manufacturer in South Korea.

Originally, Sampinute, a highly sensitive COVID-19 antigen rapid test kit that can yield results within 10 minutes, was to be shipped to the U.S. market, but Celltrion changed its deal because it took a long time to expand facilities for the mass production of Sampinute and could not meet the deadline required by a client.

Diatrust, which is in the process of securing Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, showed a high level of accuracy in testing an early stage of infection, said Celltrion, which has developed highly sensitive and accurate test kits.