The Rise of EIA/ELISA

Abstract

Elsewhere in this issue of Clinical Chemistry , Lequin (1) tells the story of how, in the late 1960s, enzyme immunoassay (EIA)/ELISA was conceived and how the technology subsequently found wide application in biomedical analysis. When we started the project at Organon, we certainly did not have the vision that it would lay the foundation for billions of future laboratory analyses. The main reason for starting the project was that Organon’s management liked the success of the immunochemical pregnancy tests that had been introduced some years before (based on inhibition of hemagglutination or latex agglutination), but felt that the cumbersome and time-consuming test procedures formed a threat to continued success. A simple dip-and-read strip giving a color change seemed a more secure basis for future success. Thus, Anton Schuurs’ proposal to explore the potential of enzymes linked to antigens or antibodies for immunochemical reactions with a colorimetric endpoint found approval. Of course, we used the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin …