NEW YORK – British testing firm DnaNudge announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Pantonic Health to launch its CovidNudge test in Australia.
The RT-PCR point-of-care test has been made available to correctional facilities, the mining industry, and local aged care sector settings in the country during its Omicron surge, which resulted in more than 175,000 new COVID-19 cases per week.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CovidNudge includes the DnaCartridge, a disposable and sealed lab-on-a-chip device that doesn't require transport media or pipetting, and the NudgeBox, a standalone instrument that runs RT-PCR tests. The cartridge can multiplex up to 72 assays and is able to detect every published COVID-19 gene, as well as all known variants, and influenza A, B, and respiratory syncytial virus, the company said in a statement. The test returns results in 90 minutes and is able to pool multiple samples, DnaNudge added.
The cartridge and instrument are also connected to the DnaNudge Cloud to process test results and connect them to a laboratory information management system, the firm said.
"The ability to rapidly identify COVID-positive individuals is of absolutely paramount importance, and key to infection control," DnaNudge cofounder and CEO Chris Toumazou said in a statement. "We hope that by making our rapid, lab-free RT-PCR test more widely available, will offer further support to Australia's COVID-19 response."
Pantonic Health cofounder Sally Panton noted in a statement that Pantonic has applied for approval to Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration for local commercial use. Pantonic Health is an Australian provider of rapid diagnostic devices and partners with manufacturers to make medical and diagnostic devices available in Australia.
In December, DnaNudge announced that it was partnering with DAM Health to distribute CovidNudge in the UK, Mexico, and Spain.