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AUCKLAND, New Zealand

Ubiquitome has signed an exclusive agreement for Swiss headquartered DKSH to market and sell its mobile, battery powered COVID-19 tester, Liberty16, in several Asia Pacific countries.

The agreement comes on the back of Ubiquitome recently receiving just over half a million dollars in New Zealand Government funding to help with increasing the manufacturing capacity for the Liberty16.

DKSH, also known as DiethelmKellerSiberHegner, is a market expansion services group listed on Switzerland’s main stock exchange, the Six Swiss. The group reported revenue of CHF11.57 billion (US$11.9 Billion) for FY2019. Significant shareholders in DKSH operate through investment managers such as the Central Bank of Norway, BlackRock Inc, Credit Suisse, and AXA Investment Managers.

DKSH’s Singapore-based Business Unit Technology, will provide marketing and sales, and distribution and logistics as well as after-sales services for the Liberty16 in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. DKSH will also seek regulatory approval in each of the markets for the use of the solution.

The Liberty16 is a handheld, battery-powered, real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) device that can fast test and relay sample data via an iPhone app, all potentially within 40 minutes.

The device is called Liberty16 because it can run 16 tests at the same time. It is a miniature DNA photocopier that can amplify specific target DNA sequences to show the presence of any DNA of interest, whether that be human, animal, or wider environmental pathogens.

Hanno Elbraechter, head of Business Unit Technology, says developing DKSH’s life science business and providing more innovative solutions for its business partners is a strategic focus.

“Ubiquitome’s solutions can be applied in various industries such as clinical diagnostics, food and beverage and life science research. We look forward to successfully growing the business with Ubiquitome in the APAC region,” Mr Elbraechter says.

Paul Pickering says with the DKSH partnership, Ubiquitome will have unparalleled market coverage in the APAC region.

Dr Pickering says the $528,927 in NZ government funding will help with emergency Food Drug Administration (FDA) authorization and deployment of community testing for COVID-19. Ubiquitome believes Liberty16 has real potential for border testing, with it being able to rapidly test samples from international arrivals.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200518005765/en/