Following the announcement that the MicroGenDx has reported fast turnaround times for COVID-19 testing using saliva tests;

Dara Lo, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“MicroGenDx is the only commercial testing lab using saliva and sputum samples, which perform much better than samples collected by nasopharyngeal swabs. With Quest facing backlogs of 115,000 COVID-19 tests on April 1, MicroGenDx will significantly increase testing capacity in the US with its COVID-19 test.

“MicroGenDx has begun running tests with a 24-hour turnaround time at a capacity of 5,000 COVID-19 samples a day and plans to increase that number to 10,000 per day in the near future. By comparison, Quest performs 30,000 COVID-19 tests per day.

“MicroGenDx was inspired to validate its laboratory developed test using sputum and saliva due to the nationwide shortage of nasopharyngeal swabs. The advantage of using sputum or saliva over a swab is the increased sample volume and the potential availability for more targets.”