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World's First SARS-CoV-2 Saliva PCR System for POC Delivers Results in 30 Minutes

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 18 Aug 2022

Image: Sal6830 detects SARS-CoV-2 at the point of care in under 30 minutes (Photo courtesy of MicroGEM)

The world continues to see COVID-19 cases and related deaths, with new cases and hospitalizations driven by the Omicron BA.5 variant. In today's 'new normal', where activities are resuming among vaccinated and unvaccinated people, testing can help relieve the burden and anxiety about who is sick and infectious. Now, the first-of-their-kind PCR-based system and saliva test can enable fast, simple, on-the-spot detection of COVID-19 infection.

The MicroGEM Sal6830 Point of Care PCR System and SARS-CoV-2 Saliva Test from MicroGEM International (Charlottesville, VA, USA) give people timely answers about their health status, allowing them to quickly return to regular activities or immediately isolate and get care. The Sal6830 leverages MicroGEM's proprietary point of care technology, which combines enriched intact virus, thermophilic enzymatic RNA extraction, and microscale high-speed RT-PCR to capture whole virus to detect SARS-CoV-2 in under 30 minutes.

Sal6830's non-invasive saliva sampling, simple on-screen instructions, fast on-the-spot results, and portability provide an invaluable tool to quickly and accurately detect COVID-19 in settings ranging from healthcare centers, film production sets, and government and academic facilities, to mobile testing sites, retirement homes and long-term care communities. The Sal6830 SARS-CoV-2 Saliva Testing Kit's innovative cartridge design allows new targets to be added or replaced quickly, significantly reducing both assay and product development time.

The MicroGEM Sal6830 Point of Care PCR System and the MicroGEM Sal6830 SARS-CoV-2 Saliva Test recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company plans on seeking authorization to expand the test menu and ruggedize the system to address austere field conditions presented in military and disaster medicine use cases, and adapt the system for the precision medicine healthcare market with quantitative gene expression panels used as biomarkers.

"Sal6830 is transforming the 'new normal' of living and working with COVID-19 by providing an easy, convenient saliva test that eliminates the discomfort of nasal swabs," said Geoff Stein, Director of Channel Partner Sales for MicroGEM.

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