Leo O'Connor

UCSD said it has inked a joint development agreement with an undisclosed diagnostic test developer with the aim of commercializing its approach.

Aiming to increase test performance, the developers are integrating separate sensors to detect protein and nucleic acid biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 in a single platform.

The firm wants to reduce the threat of going to market with a product too quickly without premarket planning, which it said could damage its reputation.

The firm has licensed technology from Imec that captures breath aerosols. Imec also conducted early development of MiDiagnostics' qPCR instrument.

The firm's CEO said it stands to benefit from COVID-19 testing contributions if the pandemic continues and a strong base business as the pandemic weakens.

The acquisition of Cernostics and its TissueCypher Barrett's Esophagus Assay provides a route for Castle to enter gastrointestinal testing.

The firm more than doubled its COVID-19 testing-related revenues during Q3 compared to a year ago. Around 84 percent of the revenues were for rapid screening tests.

The firm said it has long-term plans to launch multiple miRNA screening tests for cancers that would run in labs or at the point of care using one blood sample.

The firm recently kicked off a study to determine whether a set of RNA-expression biomarkers can provide a high negative predictive value to rule out sepsis.

The firm said a test it has developed on the back of a large clinical trial detected cardioembolic stroke with 90 percent sensitivity and 70 percent specificity.