Scalable, sustainable and cost-effective antigen manufacturing platform for a rapid mobilisation during the current Covid-19 pandemic and possible future outbreaks

21世纪迎来了冠状病毒大流行，如2002-2004年的SARS、2012-2018年的中东呼吸综合征和目前的Covid-19。这些感染导致数十万人死亡，但我们不知道如何治疗或预防它们。我们无法识别受Covid-19影响的人，导致感染在全球范围内蔓延，每天造成数千人死亡。为阻止大流行而采取的绝望封锁措施使许多国家和广大地理区域陷入停顿。通过及时、准确地发现感染，即使不能完全预防Covid-19的所有这些压倒性影响，也可以将其降到最低。抗原和抗体检测是检测当前或过去病毒感染的方法，是控制Covid-19传播不可或缺的方法。然而，开发和生产可靠的检测方法需要时间和关键成分——重组产生的病毒片段——的可用性。全球范围的大流行给科学和工业带来了巨大的压力，以提供诊断测试的这一关键组成部分。在撰写本文时，已有20种SARS-CoV2抗体试剂盒获得了美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）的紧急使用授权。这些都不是起源于英国。政府面临巨大压力，要求在实验室进行大规模血清学检测，这加快了采用从国外采购的劣质试剂盒，这些试剂盒的性能在非大流行情况下是不可接受的。国内产业能够而且必须扭转局面。达斯伯里蛋白公司将创建一个可持续的生产平台，并部署他们的技术，在最短的时间内生产急需的高质量抗原，以加快生产可靠和负担得起的Covid-19检测试剂盒。这样一个可扩展且经济高效的平台的可用性将消除未来供应链的任何问题，并保证国内诊断行业的世界领先地位。

The 21st century ushered the advent of coronaviral pandemics such as SARS in 2002-2004, MERS in 2012-2018 and presently Covid-19\.These infections killed hundreds of thousands of people yet we do not know how to treat or prevent them. Our inability to identify people affected by Covid-19, has led to the spread of the infection on a global scale, causing thousands of deaths on a daily basis. Desperate lockdown measures to stop the pandemic brought many countries and vast geographical regions to a standstill. All these overwhelming effects of Covid-19 could be minimised if not completely prevented by timely and accurate ways to detect the infection.Antigen and antibody detection tests are such methods which can detect the current or past viral infection and are indispensable for the control of Covid-19 spread. However, the development and production of reliable tests require time and the availability of their key components -- viral fragments produced recombinantly. The global scale of pandemic puts a massive strain on the science and industry to supply this key component of diagnostic tests.At the time of writing, there have been 20 SARS-CoV2 antibody kits received Emergency Use Authorisation by Food and Drug Administration, FDA. None of those originated in the UK.Immense pressure on the Government to enable laboratory-based mass serological testing has hastened the adoption of the inferior quality kits sourced from abroad, the performance of which would have been found to be unacceptable in non-pandemic circumstances. Domestic industry can and must turn the tide.Daresbury Proteins will create a sustainable production platform and deploy their technology to manufacture much-needed quality antigens in the shortest timeframe to expedite the production of reliable and affordable Covid-19 testing kits. The availability of such a scalable and cost-effective platform will eliminate any issues with supply chain in the future and warrant a world-leading position of domestic diagnostic industry.