Darmstadt, Germany, June 1, 2022 – R-Biopharm AG, a leading and globally operating biotechnology company based in Germany, will soon launch a test for the detection of monkeypox virus. The real-time PCR test, developed for research purposes (RUO), shall contribute to track and control the epidemiological spread of the virus.

The product is expected to be available in approximately two to three weeks under the name RIDA®GENE Monkeypox Virus RUO (part number PG4915RUO). Like the test for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was the first to be launched by a German company for research purposes in February 2020 and was officially approved for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 in the fall of 2020 with the CE mark, the real-time PCR test for the detection of monkeypox virus will also be usable on all common real-time PCR instruments. The uniform RIDA®GENE design also allows users to run this test together with other RIDA®GENE products.

“R-Biopharm cares about the common good,” says Dr. Andreas Simons, Head of Product Management Clinical Diagnostics at R-Biopharm. “That’s why we went right to work on designing the primers and probes needed for reliable detection when the first report came from the Robert Koch Institute of a case of monkeypox that was not related to a visit to Africa.”