SEOUL—South Korea’s SolGent has secured an order to supply a U.S. government agency with an additional 7,500 kits which can each perform 100 CCP virus tests, the CEO of the biotech firm told Reuters.
That will double the number of tests U.S. authorities can perform using kits sourced from South Korea to 1.5 million.
The kits are being sent to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump made a request for medical devices in a telephone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on March 25.
SolGent CEO You Jae-hyung told Reuters that the company is in talks on a long-term contract with FEMA and about building a factory in the United States to manufacture the testing kits, but that a decision has not been made.
He called the alliance between the two countries “ironclad” and thanked South Korea’s foreign ministry for its help.
FEMA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ emailed inquiries. The foreign ministry declined to comment.
The ministry had said that three companies had won preliminary approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to export kits, but did not identify the firms.
After struggling with the first large outbreak of the virus outside of China, South Korea has largely managed to curb its spread without lockdown orders helped by a massive testing campaign and intensive contact tracing.
