Florence, 16 April 2021 - Menarini Diagnostics, a company of the Menarini Group, launches Leasy Kit, an innovative reagent, result of its own research and 100% "made in Italy," for the isolation of viral RNA in molecular swab tests. The Leasy Kit has the advantage of allowing for a considerable saving of time, work and resources while maintaining a high level of performance.

While traditional methods provide for the viral "extraction and purification of RNA" from the patient’s sample with long waiting periods and greater costs, the Menarini Research and Development teams have designed an innovative method.  With the Leasy Kit, the outer membrane of the virus enclosing the RNA is dissolved rapidly, thus releasing the RNA into the solution with great speed, making it available for amplification with Covid-19 molecular tests.

More simply, let's imagine that RNA is a ball inside a bottle with a narrow neck: with the traditional method it must be extracted while with this new technique the bottle is simply broken.

The new reagent, fruit of the research of Menarini Silicon Biosystems in Bologna, is already in production in the specially designed laboratories in Pisa.

"Our Research and Development and Manufacturing teams have worked with great determination in the recent months to bring an innovative solution to laboratories that minimizes the time and costs of molecular routines, while ensuring accurate results and ample flexibility," commented Fabio Piazzalunga, General Manager of Menarini Diagnostics and President of Menarini Silicon Biosystems.  “This is the first Menarini product in molecular diagnostics that has entirely been developed and produced in Italy.  Thanks to the investments made, we are able to offer innovative solutions that allow for the reduction of time and costs.”

The Leasy, being a kit that can be utilized in combination with various amplification tests, has been assigned the “Research Use Only” indication and requires a simple laboratory validation for routine use.