The U.S. is investing $481 million in California-based start-up Cue Well being to spice up manufacturing of its coronavirus take a look at that pro
The U.S. is investing $481 million in California-based start-up Cue Well being to spice up manufacturing of its coronavirus take a look at that produces ends in about 20 minutes and without having to be processed at a lab, U.S. businesses introduced Tuesday.
Cue, which is backed by Johnson and Johnson amongst different traders, will improve manufacturing from a number of thousand take a look at kits per day now to 100,000 per day by March, in line with the Division of Well being and Human Providers. It added that the U.S. will purchase 6 million exams and 30,000 lab devices used to course of the exams.
Cue Well being CEO Ayub Khattak advised CNBC that the corporate will possible be “greater than midway” to that purpose by the tip of the 12 months.
“Cue’s exams present ends in about 20 minutes with the form of accuracy offered by lab exams that may take a number of days, including to our dramatically increasing provide of speedy exams that may assist protected reopening,” Alex Azar, Secretary of HHS, stated in an announcement.
Cue is a molecular take a look at and it makes use of an in-house nasal swab, known as the Cue Pattern Wand, collected from the decrease a part of the nostril, HHS stated. That is totally different from another speedy molecular exams that use nasopharyngeal swabs inserted deep into the nostril.
Check outcomes may be delivered immediately by way of the Cue Well being cell app, HHS stated. Khattak added that the digital take a look at outcomes will make it simpler to share exams with correct well being officers and doubtlessly conduct contact tracing to assist cut back the unfold of the virus.
Khattak stated HHS made the award to Cue Well being primarily based on preliminary information from an unbiased research of the accuracy of the take a look at carried out by the Mayo Clinic. The research has not but been revealed.
“The Cue testing system is extremely delicate and particular, and practically equal to the very best giant referral laboratory techniques,” Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of well being who leads the federal government’s testing effort, stated in an announcement. “This funding will permit Cue Well being, Inc. to develop its footprint and considerably scale up manufacturing, and by doing so allow this know-how to be deployed all through our testing ecosystem to profit all Individuals.”
The corporate introduced on June 12 that it acquired an emergency use authorization for the take a look at from the Meals and Drug Administration. The regulatory company approved the take a look at for use “wherever below the supervision of certified medical personnel,” the corporate stated.
Khattak stated in a cellphone interview that the take a look at is already in use by quite a few shoppers, together with the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation, which efficiently performed out its season this 12 months by making a “bubble” in Orlando, Florida. The take a look at is “the official point-of-care take a look at for the NBA,” he stated.
He added that the corporate hopes to finally get the take a look at approved to be used completely at residence.
“Our North star all alongside has been residence use for the platform,” he stated in a cellphone interview. “We expect we’re able to go and get that extra regulatory enlargement for residence use. It is definitely what we would love to do.”
Cue Well being developed the take a look at in partnership with the Biomedical Superior Analysis and Growth Authority, which is a part of HHS. The partnership started in 2018, when BARDA awarded $14 million to Cue to develop a molecular influenza take a look at with the choice to increase the settlement as much as 60 months for a complete of $30 million. Early within the pandemic, BARDA expanded its partnership with Cue to develop a take a look at for the coronavirus.
“I believe that there is a very nice arc to this,” Khattak stated of the partnership. “They acknowledged the potential. They labored on it. That they had an choice in there that anticipated probably coronavirus. That received activated and we received the product out into the market.”