Orbis Diagnostics, an Auckland-based Pacific Channel portfolio company developing an immunity test for Covid-19, has just signed a significant partnership with French multinational IDEMIA.
Orbis’ test is not for the virus itself, but to assess whether an individual has developed effective immunity due to natural exposure to the virus or through a vaccine.
Testing for immunity is a key part of the framework to support the safe reopening of borders. As populations become vaccinated, and international travel starts again, it will be vital to verify whether travellers have sufficient immunity to prevent transmitting the virus. We believe vaccination certificates alone, which are also subject to fraud, will be insufficient, especially to enter countries with low prevalence of COVID-19.
Importantly, Orbis’ test is deployable – allowing highly accurate immunity testing to be conducted at the airport rather than a venous blood draw being sent to a specialist lab. Orbis aims for this test to be deployed at borders around the world to re-enable global movement.
IDEMIA, a global leader in airport biometrics security with $4.1b in revenue and clients in 180 countries, is working with Orbis to provide a pathway to deploy a complete immunity test for use in airports globally.
Orbis has received plenty interest from the press about this recently including Newshub, Channel 7 Australia, newsroom, NZHerald, Stuff, NBR and The Australian.
To learn more about Orbis, please click here to see a short video about the company.
Orbis has just opened a new capital raise seeking NZ$4m to roll-out its test with IDEMIA by Q3 2021. Please get in touch with Emerald on emerald@pacificchannel.com if you are interested in learning more.
