Sherlock Biosciences and Binx Health recently signed a strategic partnership to develop a point-of-care diagnostic test for COVID-19 that uses CRISPR technology.
Through the collaboration, Binx’s IO diagnostic platform will be combined with the Sherlock CRISPR technology to develop a test that is simple to use. The test is designed to provide rapid and accurate results in one visit in a number of clinical settings.
“We are pleased to partner with Sherlock Biosciences to help bridge a gap in COVID-19 testing—the need for highly accurate point-of-care diagnostic testing in CLIA-waived and near-patient settings,” Binx Health CEO Jeff Luber said in a news release. “In April of this year, Binx health made history with the first 30-minute, FDA-cleared molecular diagnostic instrument for chlamydia and gonorrhea in both men and women that for the first time delivers same-visit diagnoses. Our proprietary platform will now leverage Sherlock’s CRISPR-based assay combined with Binx’s electrochemical detection for rapid viral detection of SARS-CoV-2 without the need for additional instrumentation. This union of technologies is designed to enable physicians, clinicians and other healthcare workers on the front lines of the global COVID-19 pandemic to make on-the-spot care decisions and to control and prevent further infections. We also have a unique alignment of vision with Sherlock for solutions that support ‘everywhere’ testing in near-patient retail and clinical settings.”
Binx IO is a molecular platform that has been FDA cleared for chlamydia and gonorrhea testing. It is based on a detection method that makes it suitable for broad application across various infectious diseases. It has shown the ability to detect complex infectious disease targets from bodily fluids with very high accuracy. It is a desktop-sized instrument that features a single-use cartridge with a multiplex capacity of up to 24 targets. Once a patient sample is added into the cartridge and loaded into the IO instrument, the process is fully automated and requires to data interpretation.
“This collaboration with Binx health to advance our SHERLOCK diagnostic platform and offer an accurate, point-of-care test is the next critical step in combating the global COVID-19 crisis,” said Rahul Dhanda, co-founder, president and CEO of Sherlock Biosciences. “We are also excited to explore with Binx how to utilize the io platform to bring accurate and affordable testing to hospitals, urgent care centers and other healthcare facilities for a range of diagnostic tests beyond COVID-19. We agree with the Binx strategy that ‘everywhere care’ depends on highly accurate in-clinic and easy-to-use at-home solutions. Through both our SHERLOCK- and INSPECTR-based platforms, we hope to serve as part of the solution to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic by making accurate, affordable diagnostics available everywhere they are needed: in the lab, point-of-care locales, low-resource settings and the home.”
Sherlock’s CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit uses the company’s method to program a CRISPR molecule to detect the presence of a specific SARS-CoV-2 genetic signature in specimens collected from patients who are suspected to have COVID-19.