Cerba HealthCare has been participating in the "COVIFERON" project since 2021 alongside the Imagine Institute, BioMérieux, Quanterix, and the Hospices Civils de Lyon.

Winner of the latest Hospital-University Health Research (RHU 5) call for projects, launched in 2021 by the National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the Future Investment Program (PIA: ANR-21-RHUS-0008), this project aims to:

• better understand the genetic and immunological foundations of the different clinical forms of COVID-19,
• develop and distribute tests to assess the risk of developing a severe form,
• and propose new preventive and therapeutic approaches.

Cerba Xpert, the IVD CRO of the Cerba HealthCare Group, is launching an IVDR performance study on a kit developed by BioMérieux for detecting anti-interferon (IFN) alpha autoantibodies, which should quickly assess the risk of severe disease in subjects infected with SARS-CoV-2 or even before infection. These tests can then be deployed by the Cerba HealthCare Group's network of clinical pathology laboratories.

Cerba Xpert received a favorable opinion to sponsor the PREGIFERON clinical study implemented within the RHU COVIFERON framework. This clinical study aims to enroll 250 pregnant women. It is conducted in partnership with the gynecology-obstetrics department of the Pontoise Hospital and aims to update scientific knowledge on the transplacental passage of anti-interferon alpha autoantibodies.

The results will be collected over 18 months and are expected to demonstrate that maternal-fetal transmission of these autoantibodies exposes newborns to more severe viral infections, thus allowing for an adaptation of their care.