The MAScIR Foundation under the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) announced, Monday, in Benguerir, that the new diagnostic kit “UM6P-MAScIR MPOX qPCR” is ready to be marketed in Morocco and Africa.
Developed by a research team from the Center for Kits, Diagnostics and Medical Devices at the MAScIR Foundation, this test had been clinically validated by the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and registered with the Directorate of Medicines and Pharmacy (DMP) under the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
The “UM6P-MAScIR MPOX qPCR” kit is an in vitro amplification test based on real-time PCR technology for the diagnosis of the Mpox virus (formerly called “simian pox”), according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Health (WHO).
“We are proud to launch today our Mpox virus diagnostic kit, developed within the Center for kits, diagnostics and medical devices at the MAScIR Foundation,” underlined on this occasion, Nawal Chraibi, general director of MAScIR .
In a statement to MAP, she noted that the team at the center for kits, diagnostics and medical devices within the medical biotechnology center at MAScIR, capitalized on around ten years of expertise to develop this new kit, recalling that this same research team has registered around ten kits to its credit, including those for tuberculosis, breast cancer, hepatitis C and leukemia.
“This new medical test is now authorized for production and marketing,” she continued, adding that “this kit is likely to contribute to strengthening the health security of our country and our continent in a marked context. by the epidemic outbreak of the new variant of the Mpox virus, which is raging in Africa.
In a similar statement, Prof. Abdeladim Moumen, director of the center for kits, diagnostics and medical devices at the MAScIR foundation, explained that this test makes it possible to diagnose the Mpox virus according to WHO recommendations, emphasizing the advantages of this kit, including obtaining the result in real time for the diagnosis of Mpox virus, the sensitivity and specificities of 100% as well as the multitude of reactions per kit (50 reactions per kit).
While thanking the various parties who contributed to the development and validation of this kit, Mr. Moumen indicated that the production capacity of this kit at MAScIR amounts to 6 million tests per month.
The MAScIR Foundation (Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research) under the UM6P aims to promote and develop technological research centers in the fields of materials and nanomaterials, biotechnology, microelectronics and health sciences. life.
Its work is oriented towards applied research and innovation to meet market needs.
This foundation also aims to promote the results of its research and its invention patents, through technology transfer and the creation of spin-offs and start-ups in order to contribute to the emergence in Morocco of a knowledge economy. .
