BillionToOne's Covid-19 Test Kit is said to have high capacity testing of up to a million tests per day
BillionToOne has selected Swift Biosciences to commercialise its Covid-19 test. (Credit: Pete Linforth from Pixabay)
Swift Biosciences has been selected by precision diagnostics company BillionToOne to exclusively distribute its RNA extraction-free Covid-19 test.
BillionToOne’s Covid-19 Test Kit, which secured emergency use authorisation (EUA) status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is said to have high capacity testing of up to a million tests per day.
The test has the capacity to identify the virus, which causes Covid-19 in respiratory specimens received from nasal swabs, nasopharyngeal swabs, or oropharyngeal swabs.
BillionToOne test utilises various sets of instruments and chemicals from existing Covid-19 tests, thereby allowing labs to significantly increase capacity.
The genome of the virus will be sequenced by BillionToOne test, enabling to deliver precise results.
BillionToOne test avoids the use of the time-consuming RNA extraction step
BillionToOne test avoids the use of the RNA extraction step, which is a costly and time-consuming step that may affect the workflow.
According to Swift Biosciences, the test can be easily adapted by any clinical labs with Sanger Sequencers and needs minimal training.
Swift Biosciences CEO Nathan Wood said: “Early in the pandemic, Swift was quick to pivot and offer products for sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome and associated receptors like ACE2.
“By including the BillionToOne’s COVID Diagnostic Test Kit into Swift’s product portfolio, it allows us the opportunity to provide the full complement of tools to assist in the fight against Covid-19 in ways that were not possible before. Clinical laboratories can use their excess Sanger instruments to full capacity to do over 3,000 test per day per instrument.”
Earlier this month, BillionToOne secured EUA status from the FDA for its RNA extraction-free qSanger-Covid-19 assay.