RE: Irish Examiner Article28 Oct 2020 11:37
Cork firm hopes to produce Covid breath test
Irish Examiner28 Oct 2020
Maresa Fagan
Cork company Deepverge is testing a Covid-19 breath-test device which it hopes will go to market in the new year and ultimately become an affordable mainstream consumer product.
The company, which employs 45 people in Cork, the UK, the US, and China, plans to test 5,000 units in field trials in the next two months before moving to manufacturing the device, along with a scanner for reading the test results, in Cork and China.
The prototype is being trialled in hospitals and has shown “statistically significant” results so far, according to Deepverge chief operations officer Fin Murray.
It uses nanochips, spectroscopy, and artificial intelligence to detect bacterial or viral particles, the Midletonbased businessman said.
It uses similar technology to that developed by the firm, with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency and Enterprise Ireland, to detect E.coli in water.
Deepverge also worked with the Tyndall National Institute in University College Cork on the device.
“We’re able to detect the amount of virus particles potentially expelled in the breath of an infected person,” Mr Murray said.
“In simple terms, we have covered nanochips with a binding agent that acts like Velcro, and will only bind to the spike protein of Covid19.”
The device will provide results in real time and, unlike other breath tests, will not require PCR testing — which directly detects the presence of an antigen, rather than the body’s immune response — and which expends additional costs and time.
“It’s a prototype that’s coming out of trials in three hospital Covid wards in Europe and in a laboratory in Scotland, so we’re currently in trials where we know the virus is present,” Mr Murray said. “In eight weeks, we’re moving into field trials with frontline workers and with at least one, if not two, factories in the UK where we won’t know if the virus is present or not.”
Likening the device to a vape pen, Mr Murray said consumers could use it to regularly test themselves for Covid- 19, as the nanochip unit is replaceable.
It has the potential to give people a “digital health pass” to go about their business, and he envisages it will be used first in the travel and entertainment sectors.
The company anticipates the test device could sell for € 70-€ 80, and that a new set of nanochips could be purchased for €10.
Scanners to read the device and provide a test result would be available through pharmacies and shops.
“The plan is to get this into the marketplace early in the new year,” Mr Murray said.
“The next stage is to take it in to manufacturing, and we’re doing deals with manufacturers in Shanghai to create a manufacturing hub between China and Cork.”
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