RICOVR’s technology will provide an innovative Point-of-Care platform to Help Screen Even Those Without Symptoms
PRINCETON, NJ, USA, July 20, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — RICOVR Healthcare, a Princeton, NJ based rapid-results testing device company, partnered with global scientists to publish research exploring the feasibility and benefits of saliva-based antigen testing to increase speed and accuracy of early COVID-19 viral detection. The article, “P-FAB: A Fiber-Optic Biosensor Device for Rapid Detection of COVID-19,” was published in the prestigious peer-reviewed Springer Nature journal and was authored by Dr. Himanshu Bhatia, CEO and founder of RICOVR Healthcare along with Dr. V. V. R. Sai and Divagar Murugan of Biomedical Engineering Laboratory – IIT-Madras and Dr. Jitendra Satija of the Centre for NanoBioTechnology, VIT.
The publication speaks directly to the complex medical and scientific nature of COVID-19. New, low-cost testing solutions are needed to more fully address public health concerns and to mitigate risks associated with asymptomatic carriers. New testing must consider increased safety measures, simpler processing procedures, and clear, accurate results. According to Bhatia et al., rapid-results testing will be critical to “arrest the spread of the disease through the local transmission. Antibody-based chromatographic serological tests, as an alternative to RT-PCR, offer only limited help due to high false positives.” Antigen tests are coming up as a new category of a diagnostic test designed for rapid detection of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Antigen testing using RICOVR’s technology can be a game-changer in the management and control of COVID-19”
The technology under development leverages recently approved antigen testing to increase the speed of detection while simplifying the mode of collecting and testing specimens. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Antigen tests are very specific for the COVID-19 virus. Another advantage of an antigen test is the speed of the test, which can provide results in minutes.”
“COVID-19 antigen testing using our P-FAB technology has a great potential to play a major role in the diagnosis and tackling of coronavirus pandemic. This technology is differentiated from the other molecular and antibody-based test in that it can detect the presence of active viral particles on the spot without needing a specialized apparatus. This can be a game-changer in the management and control of COVID” said Dr. Himanshu Bhatia. This technology is expected to be the most specific and sensitive and can process samples in less than 15 minutes.
Dr. V.V.R. Sai, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras commented “PFAB technology has a huge potential as proven by our lab in testing for other analytes. This method has been developed and perfected over the years with rigorous research and development. We are confident that this technology will have a meaningful impact on COVID testing.”
The article explains the technology as “A field-deployable/portable plasmonic fiber-optic absorbance biosensor (P-FAB) platform for one-step, wash-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles directly in saliva samples with minimal sample pre-processing.”
RICOVR Healthcare, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, is working on bringing this biosensor technology from the lab to market with a mission to improve human health outcomes with next-generation Point-of-Care medical devices. The patented technology is extremely sensitive and will speed up COVID-19 point-of-care diagnostic testing. The company is also developing a rapid drug testing device using the same platform. RICOVR is expected to announce more information about the platform in the coming weeks. To access the full journal article, visit https://bit.ly/3eKib7o
About RICOVR
RICOVR was founded by Dr. Himanshu Bhatia, a physician executive with deep background in
medical devices and biotechnology. Piyush Sadana, Co-Founder, is a seasoned entrepreneur with investment banking and deep tech background. The firm boasts a distinguished advisory board and management team of scientists and engineers committed to making a positive impact on society. In addition, the company has strong partnerships with leading research and development institutions around the globe.
About IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an institute of national importance. IITM has been ranked No.1 in the Overall Institutions category in India Rankings 2019 released by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India. The Institute has also been ranked No.1 in the Engineering Institutions category in the same Rankings for four consecutive years – 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. It was also adjudged as the ‘Top innovative Institution’ in the country in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2019 launched by Innovation Cell of MHRD.
