Mayo Clinic Unveils Critical COVID-19 Neutralizing Antibody Test

ROCHESTER, MN – The Mayo Clinic and other corporate partners on Thursday announced it has launched a new test that determines whether the human body produces neutralizing antibodies that makes a patient immune to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The test will be made available to select laboratories, blood banks and other biopharmaceutical clinics by the end of June. The test is the first of its kind that measures the level of antibodies, which studies show, have the ability to inactivate viruses and are associated with protective immunity against re-infection.

“The neutralizing antibody test is a critical addition to our COVID-19 testing, expanding on the capabilities of the molecular tests used to diagnose active infection and the serology test, which indicates previous infection by identifying antibodies for the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” Dr. William Morice II, president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories said in a news release issued by the clinic on Thursday. “This new test provides us with incredibly important information about how effective a person’s antibodies are at neutralizing the virus.”

The test was created by Rochester-based Vyriad, which then provided the test to the Mayo Clinic though a licensing partnership with another company, Regeneron and Imanis Life Services, the clinic said in the news release.

Antibodies are found most in patients who have contracted and recovered from the coronavirus. While Mayo Clinic officials are uncertain how significant the levels of antibodies are in patients, they said that the new test will help provide answers in determining how much protection a patient has against contracting the virus again. The test is currently being used by Mayo clinicians and researchers before it is offered more broadly later this month.

The release of the test comes as the Institute For Health Metrics in Washington is beginning to release models of what a second wave of the coronavirus in the United States would look like. According to data, an uptick of coronavirus-related deaths will begin in August and September and predicts that Minnesota will encounter 2,193 deaths by Oct. 1.

The new test will not replace current testing that determines the presence of antibodies in a patient and indicates whether a current or prior infection exists, Mayo Clinic officials said in the release. Instead, the tests determines whether the antibodies that are present have the ability to neutralize infectious diseases like the coronavirus and will be vital to researchers in their fight to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

The Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota were among the first in the country to develop antibody tests. But now, with the testing that was announced on Thursday that came to be through the collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and its partners, officials believe the test will play a pivotal role in dealing with the coronavirus moving forward.

“We believe that the launching of the test at Mayo Clinic Laboratories fills a critical gap in the serology testing landscape and represents a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19,” Dr. Stephen Russell, CEO of Vyriad said in the news release.