Below is a modified version of OptiGene’s press release from April 2nd 2020. Once again, the versatility and robustness of isothermal PCR is demonstrated for point-of-need testing. RNA extraction / purification is proving to be a bottleneck in current testing procedures and this problem is addressed by this development from OptiGene.
- UK company OptiGene has developed a simple molecular diagnostic test for COVID-19 that provides results within 20 minutes
- There is no shortage of chemical reagents and the test could be rapidly deployed around the UK to significantly increase capacity to diagnose the COVID-19 virus.
- Nearly 300 patient samples can be processed in an hour on a single instrument
OptiGene, a UK diagnostics solutions company, has developed a simple diagnostic test for the coronavirus COVID-19 that takes less time to complete than any equivalent method currently in use. This specific and extremely sensitive test can operate directly from nasal and throat swabs to produce results in less than 20 minutes. Unlike the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test that has already been deployed for diagnosing the virus, the OptiGene procedure uses isothermal LAMP technology that does not require expensive and time-consuming RNA extraction and is inherently much faster than PCR.
OptiGene instruments and reagents are distributed in The Nordics by You Do Bio.
This test has been developed in the UK and all of the reagents are manufactured here, making it widely accessible. Dr Veronica Fowler and her colleague, Dr Bryony Armson, have been working in their spare time to validate the assay with Stephen Kidd, Clinical Scientist in the microbiology Department at Basingstoke Hospital, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with full support of senior management. The new test is proving to be as sensitive as the PCR ‘gold-standard’ and is being run on the Genie® series of instruments, developed and manufactured by OptiSense Limited in Horsham, West Sussex. This range of diagnostic devices is sold under the OptiGene brand and includes
both portable battery-powered devices as well as the larger high-throughput model, Genie® HT.
