The company Advan Sentinel in Osaka will provide sewage monitoring-related services to the national and local governments, companies, etc., aiming for sales of 1 billion JP¥ (~7.6 million €) in the next 2-3 years.
Shimadzu has developed a „PoP-CoV“ sampler which is installed in manholes for continuous collection over 1 or 2 days. The sample is then concentrated by a standardised polyethylene glycol precipitation method and subjected to PCR analysis.
Shionogi has developed a 100fold more sensitive virus detection method jointly with Hokkaido University. In the „Hokkaido University-Shionogi method”, samples are centrifuged, viral RNA is extracted from the solid fraction, and after reverse transcription and pre-amplification, SARS-CoV-2 is detected and quantified by quantitative PCR. The method detects alpha, delta, and omicron strains.
In the future, Advan Tech plans to provide services for the detection of other pathogens from sewage samples such as influenza virus, RS virus, poliovirus, norovirus, malaria protozoa, and also metabolites related to metabolic diseases.
Nikkei Biotech news release, February 9, 2022