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The news came a few days ago but it is still valid. A Brianza company (Stefania Magni’s Allum), a genetics professor at the University of Sannio (Pasquale Vito) and a biotechnology company linked to the University of Campania (Genus Biotech), have announced that they are ready to produce 20 million swabs. salivary. to detect Covid in three minutes. It is a turning point; Let’s think about how many situations are solved in the blink of an eye: access to school, restaurant, office, stadium, cinema, museums, etc. Cotton swab, swab, and voila, like a pregnancy test. Obviously, therefore, that the announcement of “Daily buffer»It had a national echo (and not only) in all the media. Three minutes make the difference. Others are moving on a scientific basis but with more caution (the University of Padua and the Spallanzani Institute in Rome, for example). But let’s focus on the Brianza buffer.
Reality and fiction
Doing some checks, collecting documents, listening to the different protagonists including the Lecco Small Business Association (Api) that organized the communication, in short, doing the tare, it seems that what is written in the press release, told in the press conference and interviews is actually the script of a fiction. Basically in what they called “the product of the year”, “a success for the whole country”, “the solution to return to doing activities that we have not done in months”, perhaps, carried away by enthusiasm, they have a little mocked. How? Let’s see.
From Lecco to Benevento
To start with Allum de Merate (Lecco) is a small company in crisis (120,000 euros of turnover and 121,000 euros of losses), produces lampsIt may rise again, but how the business can reinvent itself overnight is a mystery. “We have passed all the tests of the Ministry of Health,” said the owner of the Allum. Stefania magni. But that is not true, the ministry denied it. L’Api di Lecco, an association of 540 companies and 12,500 represented employees, led by Marco Square, had publicly expressed “pride” in “our partner” who “found this solution”, “a stroke of genius”, “not only an industrial success but for the whole country”. On the phone, with the balances in hand, the triumphal tones diminish. In fact – they say – “the legal responsibility for this project lies with the spin-off”, that is, with the company Genus Biotech of Benevento designated in official press releases as a “university spin-off”, which is a rib from the Universidad del Sannio. «Ms Magni – adds the API communication manager – only had the idea of the quick swab. They asked us for a favor and we helped them communicate. Then the center of gravity shifts to Benevento.
Gender and the ghost couple
The Genus Biotech is classified as start up innovative, receives public contributions. Unisannio does not even have a stake while Professor Pasquale Vito owns 61% and the rest (39%) is in the hands of the family of Piero Porcaro, businessman from Ceppaloni (Bn) leading a group of biotech companies. Porcaro, conjugated with Maria Carmela MignoneThe councilor (Innovation and Relations with the University) of the Municipality of Benevento headed by Mayor Clemente Mastella, recently participated with 33 other suspects in an investigation by the local prosecutor’s office on the contamination of rivers and the management of treatment plants. But in the Genus Biotech documents authorized by Unisannio and accredited before the Ministry of University and Research, Porcaro is not mentioned, but Ettore Varricchio, professor of anatomy, who has never had an action, is indicated as a partner. In summary: Vito has the scientific paternity of the salivary swab, a qualified entrepreneur friend (Porcaro) already at home and yet he allies with a decotta company in Brianza because the owner had the idea. Did you want to keep the Benevento deal under cover using the distressed Allum that would have recovered the bank credit as a counterpart? Interested parties deny it, of course. And in fact it seems too “diabolical” a plan.
20 million? The doubts of prof
Let’s hear the teacher on the phone. The first thing: the Ministry of Health’s refusal to approve: “I have nothing to do with that, it is the manufacturer (which is the Merate company, ed) who declared this ». And the production of 20 million tampons? “But the manufacturer said that, I never said it, I’m very sorry about what happened. I did not do the press conference (actually, actively participated in the connection, ed) ».
“You’re not going anywhere”
Professor Vito had stated in the meeting with the press that 100 tests had been carried out on the device. Little more than family and friends because of the laws of scientific experimentation. On the phone he admits: “Yes, yes, with those numbers you are not going anywhere, they are not enough to establish the effectiveness of a test.” A tombstone about the famous 20 million on the launch pad. But how did you meet Stefania Magni? “I think he saw me on Rai News 24 because we with Genus had already developed a kit for tampons. But I have no written relationship with Dr. Magni; just phone or skype conversations. There was never a contract, a mission statement, and apparently they never met in person. «I found myself in the middle of all this – adds the teacher – I don’t agree at all at the time of production but if you ask me if this principle works, I say yes. However, the product is still a prototype. ‘ A principle and a prototype.
Allum will never produce
Phone call to the owner of Allum, Stefania magni. There was no ok from the ministry … “I never said there was an ok, it’s the statement that the API wrote. But the quote in the statement (“We passed all tests”) is yours, so is it false? “I only asked for visibility. It is a personal initiative. On a personal level? Did I understand correctly? “Yes Yes, Allum will never produce these pads and it has nothing to do with all this. “We remember the title of the press release, taken up by the media:” The Allum di Merate ready to produce 20 million tampons. “We remember the debut of the press conference with the declarations of the president and director of the API: “We are honored to present the Daily Tampon project in which the Allum de Merate company, linked to our association, is working.”
Here then is the miracle damper, “The product of the year”, “a success for the whole country”, “the solution to return to doing activities that we have not done in months.” It’s a bit like selling the Trevi’s Fountain without it still being there (and without the professionalism of a Totò).
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