Life after COVID19

Life after COVID-19: What it means for your next-generation diagnostic devices

Articles | Filter | Life Sciences | Porous Fiber | Wick |

Nov. 18, 2020

By Krista Ewing, PhD, Strategic Marketing Manager – Diagnostics

We’ve already seen how  Porex Aerosol Barrier Pipette Tip Filters Led the Way in COVID-19 Testing, but what happens as we move to the next generation of diagnostic testing? As healthcare costs continue to rise and social distancing encourages us to spend more time at home, there’s been a rise in tele-medicine, and it only makes sense that at-home sample collection and testing will continue to grow.

Home testing isn’t new to Porex; we’ve been a critical component in at home pregnancy tests for many years. However, our technology isn’t limited to just pregnancy. Whether it’s the collection of a few microliters of blood from a finger stick or several milliliters of saliva, our porous polymers can be used for home testing for immediate results, point of care testing devices, as well as samples taken at home that then are mailed to a testing facility.

With flu season now underway and COVID-19 infections remaining problematic, clinicians are looking for more options for rapid response respiratory, viral, and infectious disease testing. As Dr. Elizabeth Palavecino medical director of clinical microbiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health said, in a recent AACC.org article, “I want more alternatives. I want something that detects flu A, B, and COVID [in one test] that I can use on both outpatients and inpatients.” Additionally, initial studies suggest that at-home sample collection will be an acceptable method of sample collection for infectious diseases like COVID-19, regardless of gender, age, race/ethnicity, or educational level.

Porex materials are ideal for use in multiplexed tests with controlled structure for the unique functionality of various sample and assay types. Specifically, samples can be simultaneously collected to a specific volume while also being filtered to remove contaminates to enhance assay sensitivity. Our unique manufacturing process allows for adjustable wicking rates, fixed volumes for downstream assays, and various 3D geometries compatible for a variety of housings. Our batch-to-batch reproducibility ensures your sample uniformity.

In addition, our CERTIFIED PURE POREX® PROGRAM provides third party testing data on material purity, leachable, extractable, BFE, VFE & clinical methodology compatibility to support leading diagnostic manufacturers in creating collection and testing devices for core labs, point of care and patient self-testing.

My background is in research and clinical labs.  Understanding the ever- changing needs of the diagnostic industry,  I’m proud to support our customers in finding, testing and optimizing diagnostic materials required to manufacture diagnostic products that are safer, provide more accuracy and reproducibility and are easier to use and report.

As we resume this new life after COVID19, let’s work together to help create the very best in diagnostics.