West Wake News

A North Carolina biotechnology startup has developed a rapid test to detect COVID-19, according to reports.

BioMedomics Inc's test requires only a small amount of blood and can deliver results within 10 to 15 minutes, according to the company's website. BioMedomics Inc is a small research and development firm in Research Triangle Park.

"I think this type of test certainly is a game-changer," Kent Lupino, director of marketing and product management, told ABC11.com for its March 24 report. "Antibody-based rapid tests like ours are well-suited for initially screening patients at the point-of-care because they are fast and don't require any laboratory equipment to conduct the test."

Instead of looking for the virus's genetic material, according to the report, the test measures how the patient's body is reacting to the virus, searching for specific antibodies produced by the immune system.

"It's something that can help alleviate the burden on the laboratories that are doing testing right now because if you know someone tests negative with our test out in the field, perhaps they're not as high priority to test even though they're presenting symptoms," Lupino told ABC11. "If someone tests negative, then you don't have to waste that resource, that valuable resource of that laboratory test on someone who probably doesn't have COVID-19."

The test has been used abroad in China and the company is sending kits to South Korea, Thailand, India, Africa, Europe and Latin America, according to the ABC11 report. Federal regulators, in March, OK'd the company to market its test stateside.

One of BioMedomics' key investors is the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

"In a crisis like this, to have a company like BioMedomics have a test that is so critically necessary in order for clinicians to properly treat and evaluate patients, that right there speaks to the innovation that we see across the companies we've got in North Carolina," Greta Brunet, the center's senior director of investments, told ABC11.