• Company generates USD 7 million of additional funding to offer widespread testing to users.
• The newly launched home test is saliva-based zero-contact test for easy and early detection of COVID-19.

Amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic spread, various pharmaceutical and health companies have been relentlessly looking for solutions and test kits which can support easy and early diagnosis of the massively spreading infectious disease. In this regard, one of the leading precision health companies based out of California- Vitagene, has recently announced offering over 50,000 FDA approved ‘zero contact’ at home COVID-19 test kits for use during the current coronavirus spread.

It is pivotal to know that the company is making use of 1Health.io platform to fully comply with the FDA requirements for assessment of symptoms, telehealth, and electronic tracking of the diagnostic kits. According to official sources, the launch of ‘zero contact COVID-19 test would enable patients to take the tests at home while eliminating the need to drive or being at risk of travelling to a clinical setting.

Besides offering safe testing at home to the users, ZeroContact also reduces the risk of direct contact between the patient and healthcare workers unlike other COVID-19 tests that require providers to be in the same room as the patient, thereby increasing the risk of infection. As is said, the zero contact test kit is saliva based at home test. Besides, Vitagene has its commitment to offer nearly 50,000 tests in the very first month of service and is working towards scaling the number to over 300,000 tests per month in middle of May 2020.

Moreover, the company has partnered with some of the leading supply chain manufacturers for the commercialization of the kits, that are currently being manufactured in the United States.

Commenting on the launch, the CEO of Vitagene, Mehdi Maghsoodnia cited that the company lays its focus on providing help to its customers with an effort of improving their health and wellness. In this aspect, Vitagene is working closely with its partners to bring the test to market with physician approval ad telehealth supervision.

On the other hand, Andrew Brooks, the COO and director of technology development at university’s RUCDR Infinite Biologics lab stated that the salvia-based test kit makes it possible for all patients across the U.S to have access to testing, without actually travelling to the nearest testing location. Meanwhile, the CEO of Spectrum Solutions, Stephen Fanning announced that its novel, self-contained, and efficient saliva collection kits using EUA approved SDNA-1000 devices, not only make the sample collection easy, but also ease the sample transportation process.

Source credit: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/vitagene-launches-the-first-fda-authorized-saliva-based-zero-contact-covid-19-at-home-test-2020-05-09