The North American basketball league has funded a new saliva test for Covid-19, developed by researchers at Yale University in the United States, which is coming to the market.
- SalivaDirect, the new saliva screening test for Covid-19 entered the American market last Saturday.
- This test is ten times cheaper than the one currently used and promises results in a maximum of one day.
- This mode of detection makes it possible to skip the costly step of RNA extraction by using a chemical and thermal process to extract the virus genome and detect or not its presence.
In the fight against the coronavirus, all actors are welcome, even those who are not expected. This is the case of the NBA, the North American basketball league, which last April invested nearly $500,000 to finance a Covid-19 screening test developed by Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist from the university. from Yale (USA). This test has been available on the market since Saturday August 15 and has been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American health authority.
Up to ten times cheaper
The new saliva test, SalivaDirect, which is entering the market promises to speed up screening in the United States. Currently, the most used saliva test costs $150 and a period of 24 to 48 hours must be observed before obtaining the results. Last April, Nathan Grubaugh published an article in which he noted that saliva tests can be as accurate in detecting Covid-19 as nasal swabs. This mode of detection makes it possible to skip the costly step of RNA extraction by using a chemical and thermal process to extract the virus genome and detect or not its presence.
This new test should cost between $15 and $20. “Yale’s test loses some sensitivity, but what we gain is speed and it should be up to ten times cheaper“, welcomes Nathan Grubaugh to the American sports media ESPN. The other advantage offered by this new test is the fact that all laboratories are able to provide the results, unlike the one based on RNA extraction, which requires special equipment. It takes a few hours and, at most, a day to obtain the results.
A less accurate test
The partnership with the NBA came about because players are currently locked in a “bubble” at Disneyland in Orlando where they are tested daily. The league was then looking for ways to have faster and cheaper tests and funded the one developed by Nathan Grubaugh. “My goal is not to test athletescontinues the epidemiologist. This is not my target population. My target population is everyone. The partnership with the NBA has raised concerns as the entire population needs to be tested. But the answer was simple: the NBA was going to do all this testing anyway, so why not partner with them and try to create something for everyone?”
While the new test is cheaper and faster, it is also somewhat less reliable. According to Andrew Brooks, who developed the currently used saliva test, the Yale test lacks precision compared to the widely used one.
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