Renalytix AI (LON:RENX ) said its wholly-owned subsidiary Renalytix AI, Inc. has entered into a joint venture agreement to distribute Covid-19 antibody test kits developed by Mount Sinai.

The in vitro diagnostics company told investors that Renalytix AI, Inc., alongside the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has formed a joint venture, Kantaro Biosciences.

The JV will work on developing and scaling production and distribution of a test kit based on the Mount Sinai-developed high-performance serologic assay for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Kantaro has partnered with Minneapolis-based Bio-Techne Corporation to develop and launch the new kit, with the goal of producing more than ten million patient tests per month by July.

The two companies have formed a joint commercialisation and distribution team to support the rapid distribution of kits to clinical laboratories in the US and elsewhere around the world.

Shares in Renalytix AI were trading 17.14% higher at 410p on Wednesday morning.

Kantaro's Covid-19 test kits were designed by a team of internationally recognized scientists and clinicians to use in any authorised clinical testing lab without the need for equipment.

The test kit builds on an earlier Mount Sinai test and is designed to measure the presence or absence of anti-Covid-19 antibodies and how many antibodies a person has produced.

The kit will utilize not one, but two virus antigens, the full-length spike protein, and its receptor binding domain, necessary for viral entry into cells, this morning’s statement detailed.

"Antibody testing will be critical to providing patients and governments the essential information they need to help the world economies reopen and begin to recover from Covid-19,” said Florian Krammer, Professor of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine.

He added, “With the launch of Kantaro, we look forward to bringing a kit based on our highly specific and sensitive test to every corner of the globe."

"Diagnostics are a national strategic priority and we are now witnessing unprecedented cooperation between academic medicine and private industry to innovate," said James McCullough, CEO of Renalytix AI. 

He added, “Working together there is no doubt we can rapidly and safely advance the science to begin winning the war on COVID."

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