• Posted 25-May-2020

Coronavirus: EU-funded research project brings new rapid diagnostic to the market

One of the first 18 research and innovation projects funded by the EU to tackle the coronavirus is already delivering results.

Researchers involved in the “HG nCoV19 test” project, selected for funding from the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 under the special call launched in January, have obtained approval to put a new rapid point-of-care diagnostic for COVID-19 on the market.

Bringing together public and private organisations from Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom and China, the “HG nCoV19 test” project developed a new portable diagnostic system to detect viral infection that gives accurate and reliable results in 30 minutes. HiberGene, the Irish company coordinating the project, announced that it had obtained the CE marking required for medical devices to be put on the market.

The total EU contribution to the project is €930.000, but HiberGene had been supported by EU research and innovation funding since as far back as July 2000. The researchers have been making use of Horizon 2020 funds for the HG nCoV19 test project since mid-February. Seamus Gorman, CEO of HiberGene, said: “The support of the EU through the Horizon 2020 programme has been instrumental in delivering this project.”

The HG nCoV19 test uses a low-complexity sample preparation method and can give results for samples with high to moderate viral loads, enabling rapid diagnosis of the disease at the early and highly infectious stage of infection.

The partners in the consortium, HiberGene in Dublin, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genoa, Queens University in Belfast, and Medcaptain Medical Technologies in China, will continue to work together through the Horizon 2020 project to evaluate potential additional uses of the test, such as compatibility with new specimen types and patient cohorts.

Source: European Commission Research and Innovation News (https://bit.ly/3goIrpY)