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| Cepheid's "Xpert Ebola" test will run on the company's GeneXpert system, which is already used to treat drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.--Courtesy of Cepheid |
As diagnostics companies race to develop a rapid test to counter the growing Ebola epidemic, Cepheid roped in $3.3 million in funding to roll out a new product that quickly scans for the virus and pinpoints areas where the disease is cropping up.
The Sunnyvale, CA-based company received a cash infusion from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop its "Xpert Ebola" test that can diagnose Ebola in an hour or less using saliva or a drop of blood. The test will run on the company's GeneXpert molecular diagnostic system, which is already used in developing countries to rapidly diagnose drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Most Ebola tests require healthcare workers to take a blood sample and send it to a specialized lab for testing, a process that can take several days due to transport time, backlogs and testing time itself. Some companies, like Quest Diagnostics ($DGX) and LabCorp ($LH), said in October they would not accept any blood samples from patients suspected of being infected with the ebolavirus, further complicating the testing process.
Unlike traditional tests, Cepheid's ($CPHD) diagnostic allows healthcare workers to diagnose Ebola at treatment centers from a finger prick or swab of saliva, a safer method than drawing blood with a needle, Dr. David Persing, chief medical and technology officer, told the WSJ. Several tests can run at once, creating a more efficient model. The company also plans to incorporate cloud-based monitoring software to group test results and track new cases as they appear.
Cepheid expects to have a prototype locked, loaded and ready to go for laboratories and Ebola treatment centers in West Africa starting in January 2015, Persing told the WSJ.
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| Dr. David Persing, Cepheid's chief medical officer |
But deploying the system will not come without its challenges. There are "less than two dozen" GeneXpert machines in West African countries where the epidemic is most prevalent, and each device costs around $17,000, including a discount for developing countries, Persing told the newspaper. And while the price for test cartridges for Ebola hasn't been determined, two teams are working in California and Sweden to prepare the diagnostic tools as quickly as possible, he added.
Meanwhile, other diagnostics outfits are hard at work developing their own rapid tests for Ebola. Colorado-based Corgenix ($CONX) is rolling out a diagnostic tool that works similar to a home pregnancy test and can deliver results on a testing strip within minutes. The company won nearly $3 million in funding in June from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to continue work on its Ebola testing system.
Last month, the FDA granted BioFire Diagnostics, a subsidiary of French diagnostics outfit bioMérieux, emergency authorization for two of its Ebola tests. The company's FilmArray BioThreat-E diagnostic forgoes lab processing and can detect the disease in a blood or urine sample in one hour, beating out traditional tests which take one to two days to deliver results.
- read the WSJ story (sub. req.)