Creating a Cheaper COVID-19 Test to Serve Underrepresented Communities

PathogenDx, a technology company that delivers viral testing solutions for various bacterial and fungal infections, has developed a test for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using a one-of-a-kind microarray.

In a discussion surrounding the company and its testing kit, the CEO Milan Patel talks about the company’s key goals and the issues inflicting current COVID-19 testing.

“Ramp it up nationally, make it affordable so that the masses can have access to testing, especially in rural and urban America. If you look at metropolitan areas, they took the lion’s share of the testing, but the rest of America got left behind,” Patel said.

One of the major aims that PathogenDx has is providing their test to a larger population that may not have the ability to get tested. Due to their products cheaper cost, they are able to serve these underrepresented communities.

When asked how the company is able to create a more affordable test, Patel said “If you pool multiple samples in that one test, then effectively the cost will drop by 60%. So, you can effectively get the price of a test somewhere between $10 to $15 when you pool it and that’s how you drive the cost down.”