A new diagnostic home testing kit for the coronavirus could be ready within three to four months, according to one specialist equipment manufacturer.

AIM-quoted BATM Advanced Communications (BVC:AIM), a medical equipment designer based in Israel, has gone into partnership with life sciences firm Novamed for the project. The company is hopeful of launching the testing kits by early summer, once CE certification has been secured, giving thousands of households the ability to check for signs of the coronavirus at home.

‘We recognised the necessity for an easy-to-use and reliable test that can be done at home to help reduce the pressure on the already-congested hospitals and minimise patient exposure,’ said
Dr Zvi Marom, chief executive officer of BATM.

Shortages of high-quality coronavirus testing equipment
have been reported across the NHS and healthcare services around the world.

The news follows last month’s announcement of new coronavirus diagnostic equipment designed for use in medical facilities. Clinical tests have shown an ‘excellent performance’ of the kit’s ability to diagnose the coronavirus within an hour using real-time polymerase chain reaction, a widely-used technique in molecular biology. Shipments of the diagnostic kit, designed by Rome-based Adaltis, have now started.

‘We are clearly very encouraged about ongoing news flow in the Bio-Med business as the company now shows evident progress towards developing a COVID-19 testing kit,’ said Stifel analyst Luke Holbrook.

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