PUTTING COVID TO THE TEST: Utah Companies Provide a Range of Tests with State, National, and Global Reach.

These Utah diagnostics companies are manufacturing innovative tests for COVID-19. They're hard at work to increase testing capacity and meet the needs of healthcare providers, communities, employers, and in the case of Spectrum Solutions, Major League Baseball!

Co-Diagnostics: On the Scene Early with a COVID-19 Test

Co-Diagnostics, Inc. is a Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostics company with a unique, patented platform for the development of diagnostic tests. Co-Diagnostics has approximately 40 employees working from its Utah manufacturing and R&D facility and another 50 employees working in India with the company's joint venture, CoSara.

Co-Diagnostics began taking a role in the coronavirus response early, completing the design work for its COVID-19 test in January 2020, then receiving its CE Marking in February (the first U.S. company to do so), which made it possible for its tests to be used by countries in the European Union (EU) and by those honoring the EU's regulatory process. In early April, the company received its emergency use authorization from the FDA.

Co-Diagnostics differentiates itself from the marketplace in several ways, including a unique compassionate pricing business model that allows the high-quality diagnostics it produces to be competitively priced to markets in the developing world.

Its diagnostic platform is underpinned by its patented CoPrimerTM molecule that has been shown to enhance the output of PCR molecular diagnostic tests by dramatically minimizing false positive test results. The company's tests are designed to operate in high-throughput, quick turnaround environments, enabling laboratories to get results back to patients quickly. Rapid turnaround and high-volume processes is a key to keeping the country open and providing COVIDsafe schools and COVID-safe workplaces, a focus of Co-Diagnostics testing.

In August 2020, Co-Diagnostics was announced as the diagnostic partner for Clinical Reference Laboratory's CRL Rapid ResponseTM saliva-based COVID-19 test that can be self-administered from home or work. Clinical Reference Laboratory is one of the largest private CLIA laboratories in the U.S. The laboratory is able to return results to patients in 24-48 hours.

Clinical Reference Laboratory has also been announced as one of two laboratories chosen to process the Los Angeles Unified School District's tests for its 700,000-member student body.

The CoPrimer platform includes an Al-powered design process that identifies a genetic target based on its likelihood of being "conserved" through mutations and performing optimally with the patented CoPrimer molecule. The Logix Smart COVID-19 test genetic target of the RdRp gene has been proven over time, present in all known mutations of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the COVID-19 disease.

Now, the company has announced it is leveraging its CoPrimer molecules' strengths once again, developing a multiplex respiratory test that will find and differentiate between Influenza A, Influenza B, and COVID-19, referred to as their "ABC" test. As schools return to face-to-face instruction and the world descends into flu season, Co-Diagnostics' respiratory panel will be a key to keeping schools and local economies open and safe.

GeneSTAT Molecular Diagnostics: Driven by a Global Need

As we all do our part to mitigate the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, St. George-based GeneSTAT Molecular Diagnostics has been active in their response by providing precise and timely testing. The company develops and manufactures...