90-minute Covid-19 test developed in Cambridge begins £161m NHS order rollout
A 90-minute Covid-19 test, developed in Cambridge - which received a £161m government order for 5.8m units in August - received a significant boost this week following the publication of a study in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Microbe.
Titled ‘Assessing a novel, lab-free, point-of-care test for SARS-CoV-2 (CovidNudge): a diagnostic accuracy study’, the report - developed by Melbourn Science Park-based TTP and London-based Imperial College spin-out DnaNudge - identified the CovidNudge technology as “a sensitive, specific, and rapid point of care test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 without laboratory handling or sample pre-processing”. It added that the device “could enable rapid decisions for clinical care and testing programmes”.
The CovidNudge test was developed from an existing technology - reported on in the Cambridge Independent last November - which was pivoted to identify traces of the coronavirus in April. On August 3, the order for delivery to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was received. Health secretary Matt Hancock said at the time: “I am hugely grateful to DnaNudge and their incredible work to innovate coronavirus testing, which will mean we can test millions more people in the coming months.”
The test is now in use of eight London hospitals, including St Mary’s in Paddington, Charing Cross Hospital, West Middlesex University Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Maternity Hospital, the Renal Transplant Centre at Hammersmith Hospital and the Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health at Mile End Hospital. The machines are located in cancer wards, A&E and maternity wards to protect those most at risk.
“The overall sensitivity of the point-of-care test compared with laboratory-based testing was 94 per cent with an overall specificity of 100 per cent,” The Lancet Microbe concluded.
The test uses Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology outside of the lab. A swab sample is taken from the patient and inserted into the small single-use cartridge. The sample is then tested for the SARS-CoV-19 virus, with a result delivered in 90 minutes.
DnaNudge initially wanted to develop a DNA profiling system which allows you to establish your dietary and nutritional needs, where the results would “nudge” people towards a healthier lifestyle. It approached TTP to develop the technology .
Professor Chris Toumazou, co-founder and CEO at DnaNudge, said: “We initially approached TTP with our concept regarding personalised DNA testing. We were impressed by TTP’s desktop biology offering and saw an opportunity to accelerate the development of our technology and chemistry.”
TTP and DnaNudge had already been working on the project for three years before launching the test in November: it was being used in a Covent Garden food retailer late last year.
“We were supporting them and helping them to convert the box from food to human testing,” a TTP spokesperson told the Cambridge Independent. “We are very happy with the results so far.”
The speculation that CovidNudge could be a key part of the government’s much-touted £100bn Operation Moonshot - for a home testing kit - is premature, however.
Each box makes 16 tests in any 24 hours - only one test can be carried out at a time. The main saving is not having to take swab tests from testing centres to the laboratory - which is in itself a game-changer. In time, testing could take place at locations including workplaces, schools, pharmacies, and even shopping arcades and other public amenities.
The initial rollout of the rapid PCR test will now be expanded into urgent patient care and elective surgery settings nationally, along with further deployments in out-of-hospital settings.
