Manila HealthTek or MTek’s GenAmplify African Swine Fever (ASF) PCR Detection Kit is the only locally-developed diagnostic kit on the list of 10 registered African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) diagnostic kits released by the Bureau of Animal Industry.
This is highly regarded as a win for both Filipino scientists and the end-users of the local swine industry, as a Filipino-made test kit not only lowers cost and increases accessibility but means more efficient testing.
“Since the product is locally-developed, the manufacturers can readily provide technical assistance to laboratories should there be problems, versus imported test kits,” says Dr. Ernesto Balolong Jr., Director of Research and Development, Animal Health Division of MTek.
Presently, there is no vaccine or treatment for ASF so disease prevention largely depends on strict biosecurity and diagnostic testing.
Aside from making it on the BAI listing, GenAmplify has also gotten the nod of other government agencies.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the test kits last year. The Veterinary Laboratory Division of the Bureau of the Animal Industry also validated the product last year and found it to be 100% sensitive and 100% specific. This means that the testing won’t have any mistakes and would not miss any animal who has the disease nor erroneously classify any animal who is disease-free as having the disease.
Aside from these, MTek conducted field validation in partnership with animal diseases diagnostic laboratories.
Dr. Lorenzo Arellano, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Diamed Enterprise, stated that, “The GenAmplify ASF PCR Detection Kit delivers the same quality of performance as international brands. It is user-friendly, and is very convenient since it allows the use of different types of samples.”
