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Two UK companies are to launch rapid saliva-based tests for Covid-19 on Thursday, amid growing requests for more testing capacity in Britain as employees return to their offices and students return to school.
British technology company iAbra has developed a test that uses a mouth swab to remove saliva that is then tested for the virus. Results are delivered in just 20 seconds, the company says.
The test was carried out at London Heathrow Airport, which is one of the group’s first customers. A division of the US defense company Lockheed Martin is another, and iAbra said it is in talks with other multinationals.
“The Covid-19 tests are the lifeline the UK economy needs to recover,” said John Holland Kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive, adding that the iAbra test is “faster, cheaper and potentially more accurate” than conventional government swab. test.
“We urge the government to accelerate this technology to protect the economy and help save millions of jobs in this country,” he added.
As more employees return to work and students return in droves to universities, epidemiologists have underscored the need for robust, large-scale testing to detect infections and prevent local outbreaks.
While the government conducts large tests of various rapid tests for Covid-19, some companies have tried to meet private demand for scalable test systems that do not require professional medical management.
British biotech company Halo will launch a saliva test that it says provides results within 24 hours. Customers can perform the test at home by spitting into a tube and submitting the sample for processing in the company’s laboratory at Imperial College London.
The group’s first customer is the University of Exeter, which has purchased tens of thousands of tests, and Halo said it is in talks with an unidentified hedge fund and a major international airline.
“Saliva is much less intrusive, has less of an impact on the environment, and requires less labor than other tests,” said Jonathan Biles, Halo CEO. “Our tests are very, very sensitive. We think we have something that is changing the rules of the game. “
Biles said the test, which purifies genetic material from saliva and uses the polymerase chain reaction to detect the virus in a laboratory, is close to 100% accurate.
With the iAbra Virolens test, a digital camera connected to a microscope is used to analyze saliva samples, and the data is then run through a computer. Each digital camera machine can process several hundred tests per day, the company said.
iAbra said the cost of the machine that processes the data is less than $ 20,000, and that each test kit is equivalent to “roughly the price of a paperback.”
Studies conducted by the University of Bristol found that the test had a sensitivity of 99.8 percent, identifying all real cases and avoiding false negatives.
