Both assays of Seegene showed the saliva and nasopharyngeal test’s percentage agreement of more than 98.8% in detecting Covid-19. Credit: Mufid MDMajnun / Unsplash.

Seegene has reported that the company’s less-invasive Covid-19 saliva test is as accurate as the nasopharyngeal specimen (NPS) test, according to a new study.

The PCR test was conducted by a research team at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Kangwon National University School of Medicine in South Korea.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

The scientists used Seegene’s CE-IVD marked Covid-19 tests, Allplex SARS-CoV-2 Assay and Allplex SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay, for the study.

Allplex SARS-CoV-2 Assay can detect four different Covid-19 viral genes while Allplex SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay is designed for identifying and distinguishing eight target genes, including Covid-19, influenza, and RSV common cold.

The team conducted the PCR test for Covid-19 on 90 hospitalised people with suspected disease, using saliva and nasopharyngeal samples.

To obtain an adequate specimen, samples were collected from study subjects who were asked to refrain from eating, drinking, and smoking for 30 minutes after waking up in the morning.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

According to the results, both assays of Seegene showed the saliva and nasopharyngeal test’s percentage agreement of more than 98.8% in detecting Covid-19.

It demonstrates that Seegene’s Covid-19 diagnostic test provides equally accurate and effective test results using saliva and a nasopharyngeal specimen.

Kangwon National University School of Medicine Department of Laboratory Medicine professor In-bum Suh said: “The demand for saliva-based Covid-19 tests is on the rise as the world still battles with the short supply of specimen collecting swab for nasopharyngeal tests.”

He added that the study has ‘clearly proven that saliva tests are just as accurate and effective as nasopharyngeal tests in precisely diagnosing Covid-19’.

Separately, the team also carried out a study on the extraction-free application, one without the nucleic acid extraction step. They found that the percentage agreement between Seegene’s extraction-free saliva test and extraction-free nasopharyngeal swab test was more than 96%.

It indicates that extraction-free method using saliva sampling could be just as applicable for the Covid-19 PCR test.