Ten-Minute Coronavirus Test Moves Closer to Manufacturing
The finger-prick test determines whether a person has the illness with state of his or her immune system
(Bloomberg) --
U.K.-based Mologic Ltd. has sent prototypes of a 10-minute coronavirus test to laboratories for validation before it can begin full-scale manufacturing.
The company and its partner, the Senegalese research foundation Institut Pasteur de Dakar, have developed a finger-prick test to determine whether a person had the illness and the state of his or her immune system. The company is also working on a separate saliva test to detect the presence of the virus.
After initial assessment in the U.K., the prototypes will be sent to other laboratories for validation in a process that could take three to four months, said Paul Davis, Mologic’s chief scientific officer.
“Full-scale manufacturing will begin a few weeks before we release it on the market,” Davis said by phone Wednesday. “We want to make it available to everyone.”
The price of a single test will be less than $1, and it should be produced in the U.K. and Senegal, which currently have a joint capacity of making 8 million a year.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.