COVID-19: New Home Testing Kits and One-Dose Vaccine

Two encouraging developments in the fight against COVID-19 were announced this week.

First, FIERCE Biotech reported that Johnson & Johnson has initiated a phase 3 assessment of its COVID-19 vaccine that will include 60,000 volunteer subjects. Unlike some other vaccine candidates, J&J’s vaccine appears to work as a single-shot regimen with no need for any subsequent inoculation.

The J&J candidate is also stable for three months when stored at temperatures typical of other common vaccines (about 36 to 46 degrees F) so no change would be needed to delivery and storage infrastructures. The company believes this will enable them to make, deliver and store enough doses to treat about one billion people per year.

Second, Axios reported that a computer startup called “Gauss” and a biotech company named “Cellex” have teamed up to concoct the first rapid COVID-19 test that can be performed by people at home without involving a laboratory.

While other diagnostics have been developed that allow users to test themselves at home, those methods still required people to send in samples to a lab for processing. The new diagnostic can be done and interpreted at home with the help of a small swab, a vial filled with buffering solution, and a tiny test surface cassette.

According to Cellex, the test generates a correct positive result nearly 90 percent of the time while producing correct negative results close to 100 percent of the time. Accurate, quick and easy home testing will greatly facilitate recognition of viral transmission and the need to quarantine in timely fashion.