Poor sensitivity of AccuPower SARS-CoV-2 real time RT-PCR kit (Bioneer, South Korea)

Background Several molecular kits are available for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, mostly lacking of proper clinical evaluation due to the emergency caused by COVID19 pandemia, particularly at developing countries like Ecuador. Objective We carried out an evaluation of the clinical performance of AccuPower SARS-CoV-2 Real Time RT-PCR kit (Bioneer, South Korea) for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis using 2019-nCoV CDC EUA kit (IDT, USA) as a gold standard. Results 48 clinical specimens were included on the study, 38 tested SARS-CoV-2 positive and 10 SARS-CoV-2 negative for 2019-nCoV CDC EUA kit. For AccuPower SARS-CoV-2 Real Time RT-PCR kit, only 30 were SARS-CoV-2 positive, indicating a low clinical performance with sensitivity of 78.9%. Moreover, the limit of detection for AccuPower SARS-CoV-2 Real Time RT-PCR kit was estimated to be higher than 40,000 viral RNA copies/mL of sample. Conclusions Proper clinical performance evaluation studies from government agencies at developing countries should be mandatory prior to clinical use authorization of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis kits, particularly when those kits lack of either FDA or its country of origin clinical use authorization, to prevent the distribution of low quality products that may have a negative impact of COVID19 surveillance at developing countries.