ThermoGenesis Holdings (NSDQ:THMO) announced today that it filed patent applications for its point-of-care COVID-19 antibody detection device.
Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based ThermoGenesis’ device is designed to improve the speed and accuracy of lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA) in detecting COVID-19 IgM and IgG antibodies from a single drop of blood.
In a news release, ThermoGenesis chief technology officer Phil Coelho described the LFIA reader as a device that will enable the user to slide the test cartridge into a portable reader and receive an instant readout that can be immediately recorded into a corporate database or cloud-based web portal to offer insight into the spread of COVID-19 seropositivity in real-time.
“Today’s LFIAs, in certain cases, are challenging for untrained users to properly read when results are indicated by weakly stained bands,” Coelho said. “Variances among patients, if not read properly, could generate either false-negatives or false-positives. Additionally, in the large-scale screening environment, such as employer-sponsored screens of employees, record keeping by hand slows test administration and introduces the potential for recordkeeping errors.”