Qorvo® announced it has been awarded a $4.1 million follow-on contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative. The contract, awarded to Qorvo Biotechnologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qorvo, will help advance the clinical trials and market launch of both a SARS-CoV-2/Flu Combo Assay and SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Pooling on the Qorvo Omnia™ diagnostic test platform.
The SARS-CoV-2/Flu Combo Assay will simultaneously detect and differentiate between SARS-CoV-2, Flu A and Flu B in an all-in-one test using a single swab sample in approximately 20 minutes. The antigen pooling application will allow up to six samples to be processed together and tested at the same time. Antigen pooling enables significant time and cost savings for screening groups of people who aren't experiencing SARS-CoV-2 symptoms. Qorvo continues to develop advanced testing formats for SARS-CoV-2 detection in response to the pandemic while focusing on test performance, workflow efficiencies and cost control for end users. Combined with a previous NIH contract award of $24.4 million, this award positions Qorvo to accelerate the production and market launch of multiple COVID testing solutions using a single platform.
Philip Chesley, president of Qorvo Biotechnologies, said, "Today's COVID testing market is demanding high quality testing infrastructure at the point of care, with automated workflow, menu expansion and scalability to serve future needs of the pandemic. This contract award and continued RADx support enable Qorvo to more effectively address the expanding requirements of diverse end use settings."
Tiffani Bailey Lash, Ph.D., co-program lead for the RADx Tech program, said, "Qorvo's antigen test has a lot of potential with near-PCR-level accuracy for use at POC settings."
The Qorvo Omnia platform represents an innovative diagnostic technique by using high frequency bulk acoustic wave sensors to achieve rapid SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) antigen test results. BAW sensor technology enables low limit of detection levels similar to molecular testing capability.