RE:WCVB Boston tonight COVID-19 Story To market in August.
BEVERLY, Mass. —
A Massachusetts company is looking to bring testing for COVID-19, the coronavirus, out of laboratories and into places such as hospitals and airports.
Dr. Jack Regan, the chief executive officer of Beverly-based LexaGene, said state laboratory results for COVID-19 -- which state health officials said could be turned around in 24 hours -- take too long to produce in order to effectively stop the spread of the virus.
"In regards to coronavirus, the need here is rapid point-of-need diagnostics, and we certainly could help provide a solution to the problem," Regan said. "The ideal is to prevent the spread of the disease before it becomes an epidemic."
Regan contends that the state labs are overworked, considering the fears surrounding COVID-19 and the fact that it presents similar symptoms to the influenza virus.
He said his company is developing a testing instrument, the LX2, that could yield results on a COVID-19 sample much more quickly than a government laboratory.
"It can screen for many pathogens at once, including coronavirus," Regan said. "So within an hour, you can figure out how to handle that patient."
The LX2, which was meant to detect food and animal diseases, will be reworked to detect COVID-19.
If the company received fast-tracked approval from the Food and Drug Administration, Regan said he could hopefully bring the LX2 to market in August and sell it to hospitals, health clinics, schools, businesses, cruise lines and airports.
"We're in a situation now where it appears that containment is no longer possible," Regan said. "Any saved day in an outbreak like this can help reduce the amount of spread."
Regain does expect that COVID-19 cases might taper off in the summer, when his product could be ready, but said that the virus could spread again in the fall when a new flu season starts.