Hopes money can accelerate pre-clinical trials of a quick point-of-care test
A UK-Dutch biotech has secured financial backing to develop a fast and portable coronavirus test that could detect the virus within seconds.
ViroTact, which has bases near Ipswich and in the Netherlands, secured funding of up to £10 million from the Dutch venture capital firm Carduso, and John Molina from the US company Molina Healthcare, according to the Telegraph newspaper.
The money is expected to accelerate pre-clinical trials of the company’s CoviTact “smart molecule” detection system, first developed to detect bacteria in foods. It involves a reaction to a coronavirus enzyme and detection of the reaction via near-infrared light in a portable detector.
“Thanks to the simple design and portable detector, it is possible to immediately determine whether a person is carrying the virus,” said Joost Gazendam, CEO of ViroTact. “Our test can be used at point of care, at the general practitioner, at the emergency room, or at a mobile test location and, for example, at airports—and it contributes to containment of the spread of the virus.”
Carduso Capital announced “a substantial financial injection to accelerate development and time to the market” on 6 May, saying that ViroTact expects to have the test available in eight weeks.
“Current virus-detection tests are taking too long, are too expensive and labour intensive, or require specialised equipment and personnel,” it said. “So there is a need for a quick point of care Covid-19 test.”