Detect, Inc. is awaiting FDA approval on an at-home Covid test they’ve developed. They hope to roll it out in time for the holidays.
New technology for at-home Covid-19 testing is being developed in Connecticut. Guilford-based company Detect, Inc. just found out it's receiving a portion of nearly $78 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to advance the development of a rapid at-home Covid-19 testing kit.
NBC Connecticut's Dan Corcoran sat down with Detect, Inc. Chief Technology Officer Eric Kauderer-Abrams to talk about the award and where they hope it leads.
Dan: "So Eric, a big boost for your company to get this funding, how much is Detect being awarded here? And how do you plan to put that money to good use?"
Kauderer-Abrams: "Thanks, Dan, it's a great honor to be recognized by NIH and to have their support behind us. The award is for $8.1 million. And we're going to use it to scale up our manufacturing to get our tests out there."
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Dan: "OK, tell us about these at-home testing kits that you are working on what makes them different from what's already out there on the market. And why is at-home testing in general, so important right now?"
Kauderer-Abrams: "So to share what we've developed, it's a PCR-quality rapid at-home test that's currently under FDA review. And the reason that it's different is that it combines the accuracy of molecular nucleic acid amplification tests with the simplicity and scalability of a typical rapid test. So we'll be filling a niche category that will be crucial this holiday season in particular for allowing everybody to try to see their families and get back to normal as much as possible."
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Dan: "I think a lot of people are thinking about how these add home tests can be used specifically for the holiday gatherings, like you said, Now Detect is based on the shoreline and Guilford as we said, but clearly you're hoping that your products your technology can help in this greater fight against Covid well beyond the state lines of Connecticut. So what's your big picture goal going forward, especially with this new funding in mind?"
Kauderer-Abrams: "So big picture goal is to get the test out there all over the country as soon as we can. With this NIH funding behind us, we're in a good place to scale up manufacturing distribution, and enable everyone all over the country to use it."
