Sterling, Va.-based biotech company Aperiomics announced on Friday that it is offering test kits for the novel coronavirus.
Aperiomics, which specializes in test kits for pathogens that are historically hard to diagnose, says its coronavirus tests are now available nationwide and that it is able to process 1,000 tests per week. The company promises results within 48 to 72 hours of receiving a sample back.
“Our mission is to ensure that no one suffers needlessly from an infectious disease – and that means doing our part to help in the fight against COVID-19,” Aperiomics CEO Dr. Crystal Icenhour, said in a company statement. “In this moment of crisis, we have an obligation to pivot our resources and expertise towards combatting this pandemic. We know that testing as many people as possible is key to keeping our population healthy during the coronavirus outbreak.”
Aperiomics' test uses a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, meaning it uses throat swabs to identify genetic material specific to the coronavirus.
The company says it collaborated with peers in the biotech community to develop its testing capability. Iowa-based Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) is supplying necessary primers and probes, and California-based Zymo Research is providing DNA/RNA sample collection and RNA extraction reagents.
Aperiomics says medical professionals can contact it to order testing kits. In telemedicine scenarios, kits can be drop-shipped to patients directly, but a licensed health care professional still needs to sign off before a test is processed by Aperiomics, Ichenhour told DC Inno in an email. The company's tests cost $250 per sample, however, a multi-billion dollar relief bill President Donald Trump signed into law Wednesday ensures coronavirus testing will be free to patients.
As the U.S. tries to ramp up its coronavirus testing capacity, a number of startups have begun to launch at-home tests, including EverlyWell, Carbon Health, Nurx and LetsGetChecked. However, the prospects of patients self-testing has some experts worried about proper administering of the tests, according to health and medicine publication STAT:
Taking an at-home test presents other problems as well. For an accurate test, a patient must swab deep in the back of the nose or throat where the virus is most active. Similar to a test that’s taken too early, a swab that’s done too shallowly could wrongly convince someone that they don’t have Covid-19.
“It’s not a very comfortable thing, if you do it right. It can feel like you’re trying to gag yourself.” [Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute] said. “So the chance of false-negatives is high.”
As of Friday afternoon, the U.S. had at least 15,000 confirmed cases 202 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to the New York Times. Those numbers are likely artificially low, as the U.S. has largely lagged behind much of the world in its testing capacity.
See the CDC's FAQ on COVID-19 testing for additional information.
