WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2020) The United States aims to increase the availability and types of novel coronavirus tests with a $248.7 million investment in seven biotech firms, including three making tiny machines that yield results in as little as 15 minutes, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said in a press release on Friday.
"NIH's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative has awarded contracts to seven biomedical diagnostic companies to support a range of new lab-based and point-of-care tests that could significantly increase the number, type and availability of tests by millions per week as early as September 2020," the release said.
Three of the companies make testing machines, one of which pictured in the release resembles a desktop electric pencil sharpener in both shape and size, while four of the companies rely on lab-based tests, the release said.
Companies listed in the release include the biotech firm Mesa Biotech, which produces a hand-held device with a removable cartridge that displays test results in about a half hour.
Another machine made by the biotech firm Quidel delivers results within 15 minutes. Thousands Quidel analyzers are already in use and the Department of Health and Human Services has identified the technology for use in nursing homes.
In some areas of the United States, efforts to battle the novel coronavirus pandemic have been hampered by delays of a week or more for results requiring laboratory analysis.
