The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is awarding more than $129 million in new contracts to companies developing rapid COVID testing technologies.
In total, nine organizations will receive funding as part of the NIH’s overarching Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative or RADx. The technologies range from portable point-of-care tests with immediate results to high-throughput labs that return answers within 24 hours.
The NIH handed out its first round of financing to seven companies back in late July.
“One of the many facets of our testing strategy is to support and enable innovation,” Adm. Brett P. Giroir, assistant secretary for health, said in a statement. “The new technologies being funded today have the potential to transform the diagnostics landscape if their promise is proven in clinical studies.”
Included among the novel approaches is a portable, battery-powered reverse transcription-polymerase chain-reaction device that returns results within 15 minutes and a mini-lab that performs assays in community hospitals and underserved regions. Five labs will offer expanded coverage for these tests with a goal of performing tens of thousands per day at each site.
These efforts will not only help combat the ongoing pandemic but also inform the treatment of acute and chronic diseases that many continue to battle.
“The opportunity to scale up high-throughput laboratories and rapid point-of-care tests to meet the needs of communities all around the country is critical,” said Rick A. Bright, PhD, senior advisor to the NIH director and lead for the RADx-Advanced Technology Platforms program.
Read more about the NIH’s efforts here, including a detailed breakdown of the nine organizations receiving funding.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.