Cellmid will have rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 available by early April, shares hit new high
Cellmid Limited (ASX:CDY) is playing a role in Australias efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic through an agreement to supply rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), with products expected to arrive in the country by early April.
The test uses a virus-specific detection method that delivers results anywhere between three to 15 minutes and requires no laboratory equipment.
It also does not require the use of Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment, which is one of the limiting factors in wide-scale testing.
Since the outbreak began Australia has conducted just over 190,000 tests, however, as well as being limited by the availability of PCR equipment, the pathology system is also limited by the lack of reagents.
Rapid tests are important to remove this bottleneck.
Benefit could be "enormous"[hhmc]
Cellmid CEO Maria Halasz said the benefit to the Australian health system could be enormous.
She said: “Social distancing is absolutely critical, as is learning from countries that managed the coronavirus infections well, such as Singapore and South Korea.
“These countries conducted widespread COVID-19 testing, isolated positives and provided early treatment. They not only controlled the spread of infection, they saved lives and medical resources.
“Our agreement allows for one of the fastest available COVID-19 tests to be made available for testing in Australia at scale.
“However, international demand for these tests is accelerating exponentially and to ensure ongoing supply over the next six months we need to act immediately.”
RDT tests have a critical role to play in flattening the infection curve and are economically competitive against other COVID-19 tests, which take much longer and require specialist laboratory equipment and medical skills.
Test is approved[hhmc]
The RDT ordered by Cellmid and arriving in Australia in early April, is produced by Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co Ltd with the company to pay a fixed price for each test it will purchase.
It is approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China, received the CE mark on March 5, 2020, and was approved by the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) on March 25, 2020.
This rapid diagnostic test, which is already used in several countries including the UK, Belgium, Spain and Germany, is produced in a TGA approved facility in China.
It is suitable as a bedside test, can be used in pathology labs, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, remote areas and by corporates when administered by healthcare professionals.
Small disposable kit[hhmc]
This RDT is a small disposable kit that uses a lateral flow colloidal gold-based detection method against viral-specific IgG/IgM, delivering results in as little as three minutes without laboratory equipment.
Most other available COVID-19 tests make use of PCR technology to detect viral RNA which requires skilled technicians, takes several hours to produce a result and is limited in throughput by the availability of specific laboratory equipment.>Read More – Source
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