Rhinomed is pleased to report positive data from its lab-based spiking study of Rhinomed’s new Rhinoswab conducted at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), part of The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (The Doherty) in Melbourne.
The study’s objective was to demonstrate efficacy in detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus at both low and high viral loads.
The study assessed how well the Rhinoswab performed in transferring a viral load for testing when compared to commercial comparators. It considered the amount of virus the swab was subjected to, as well as how well the swab could elute the acquired viral load for adequate testing by a PCR device.
The eluted volume from the Rhinoswab was found to be comparable to the commercially available Copan eSwab when artificially dipped into a neat saliva solution spiked with inactivated SARS-CoV-2, at both high and low virus burdens. The relative maximal volume recovered was also comparable between the devices.
The results showed that there were no statistical differences between the mean Ct values at the two viral concentrations obtained from both swabs when fully immersed in a viral solution, and that both swabs reported 100% accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. This indicates that the Rhinoswab is comparable to the comparator (the Copan ESwab) in terms of its ability to diagnose Covid-19 with a PCR from full saturation.
Rhinomed CEO Michael Johnson commented, “We are delighted to have worked with VIDRL, the Doherty and Dr Julian Druce, Dr Mike Catton and their team to have confirmed that the Rhinoswab can detect SARS-CoV-2 using lab-based RT-PCR.”
“This is a critical step in demonstrating that the Rhinoswab has a role to play in responding to the need for an easy to deploy, self-administered and effective sampling methodology.”
“We are now reaching out to the many health systems, Covid Test developers and pathology groups for whom a comfortable, self-administered and effective swab will enable mass, high frequency testing. This response will be an important part of ensuring we can respond quickly and effectively to future Covid outbreaks.“
Rhinomed is continuing its R&D program to optimise the swab and understand its utility with clinical sample collection. Further work is also seeking to assess its suitability across a range of other upper respiratory diseases including influenza.