Expect to Hear a Lot of Talk about Coronavirus and Molecular Point of Care

A Harvard Business Review  article calls for molecular point of care to step in to detect #coronavirus. You’ll hear a lot of this in coming weeks, we think.  Molecular point of care is less than 10 years old but has shown promise in flu/strep, other respiratory pathogens. They are in the right place at the right time, the clinic, the CVS, they are in parts of the hospital away from the lab.

Kalorama has reports on molecular POC here .  We are in the process of updating the report too, for mid March, to encompass 2019 and early 2020 results.  Placements in clinics make mPOC a good first responder if a test can be developed and systems adjusted.  A big if, but test makers, Cepheid is one, are on the case. https://lnkd.in/ew-TsJq

The more modular the POC system the better, that is to say the coronavirus test should be a cartridge rather than require a new instrument.  Such a test would be in demand right now and with the federal government motivated, EUAs are certainly possible to get around the normal regulatory hurdles.

But it’s not just about a regulator saying yes – a test would have to be high percentages of specificity – a poor test would just add false positives and will swell caseload numbers and increase fear. https://lnkd.in/eP9C98K