《TAIPEI TIMES》NHRI screening kits expected by year end

VACCINE DEVELOPMENT: The institute’s president said it is focusing on peptide vaccines, but would also develop recombinant vector, DNA and subunit vaccines

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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Rapid screening kits being developed by the National Health Research Institute （NHRI） for COVID-19 could be available by the end of the year, NHRI president Liang Kung-yee （梁賡義） said on Wednesday.

The institute is testing the virus identification capacity of antibodies that were selected for the development of the kits, Liang said, adding that the testing is expected to be completed by March 31.

The subsequent steps are to conduct technology transfers to companies and undertake clinical trials with human tissue, Liang said.

The kits, like those that are used for influenza, would not be 100 percent accurate, he said.

Nevertheless, they are a “vital step” for public health, he said.

The state-run institute is using antibodies for SARS, which was a major outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, as the basis for its development of the kits to test for COVID-19, which has spread rapidly worldwide since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Academia Sinica is also developing COVID-19 rapid screening kits.

Asked about progress on development of a vaccine, Liang said that the institute is focusing on peptide vaccines, but would also develop other types, such as recombinant vector, DNA and subunit vaccines.

The NHRI hopes to determine the best candidate vaccine by early June, after which it would start toxicology studies and animal experiments, he said.

After the Food and Drug Administration approves clinical trials, the NHRI would proceed with them, which, due to safety reasons, is expected to take at least one year, he said.

The WHO on March 4 released a Draft Landscape of COVID-19 Candidate Vaccines, which listed 35 projects in development, but did not include the Taiwanese efforts.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES