With nearly 420,000 confirmed cases worldwide, coronavirus is the focus of the efforts of governments, health experts and several companies seeking treatment, a vaccine or ways to contain the spread of the virus. In Brazil — where there are more than 2,000 confirmed cases and 46 deaths — one of the concerns is getting enough tests to diagnose covid-19 in the population.
In this scenario, The Brazilian healthtech Hi Technologies will launch, in the second half of April, the coronavirus test in its minilaboratory Hilab, which can be found in pharmacies in the country and makes several other types of diagnosis.
Initially, the amount expected to be charged for the exam is 130 reais, but the company evaluates conditions to lower the cost and make the service more accessible. The test result should be out in about 10 minutes. The test can be found in pharmacies throughout the country, but the focus of the distribution will be in São Paulo (with 745 confirmed cases and 40 deaths) and in Curitiba.
The company is in the production phase at the test scale, and in addition to the sale in pharmacies will also market the product to companies that are interested. "Hi Technologies is a laboratory and Hilab is regulated by Anvisa, so its tests are validated in house (validated within the lab itself)," explains the startup.
Hilab is a 12cm³ minilaboratory that performs about 15 tests, including pregnancy, blood glucose, and Zika. With a hole in the fingertip, a minimum amount of blood is placed on the machine which is a kind of "Nexpresso" of the blood test.
For each test, a capsule with a tape inside is placed in Hilab, which carries the specific reagents for that particular test. "Hilab was born with the concept of being a health 'appliance'," explains Marcus, one of the company's founders.
After the procedure, the person waits about 25 minutes. This is the time it takes for the blood to react chemically, a process that is scant in a kind of "photo" and sent by cloud to a Hi Technologies server.
There, the reaction is analyzed by an artificial intelligence developed by the company and is generated a previous result. Then, professionals from the clinical staff, composed of physicians, biomedical, pharmacists, physicists and engineers, make the second and definitive analysis of the reaction. The final result is available to the person by SMS, email or through the company application.
Quick tests
In light of the Recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) to test as many people as possible — with or without symptoms — and with the lack of tests worldwide to diagnose coronavirus, Anvisa has begun in recent days to endorse new types of testing for covid-19.
The first tests called "fast" were approved last week, which use a different type of technology than the one currently used. At least 11 rapid tests have already been released by the regulatory agency and the modality has also been admitted by the government. The Ministry of Health announced that it will expand to 22.9 million the number of tests acquired and distributed during the pandemic, including rapid tests.
Exame - 24/03/2020
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