New testing devices developed by a Cambridge team that can diagnose Covid-19 in less than 90 minutes are being used at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
The portable machines, called Samba II, have been developed by a University of Cambridge spin-off company called Diagnostics for the Real World.
10 are currently being used at Addenbrooke’s Hospital this week but researchers said their tests, which have been validated by Public Health England, are expected to be launched in hospitals across the country.
“Our goal has always been to make cutting-edge technology so simple and robust that the Samba machine can be placed literally anywhere and operated by anyone with minimum training.”
– HELEN LEE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF DIAGNOSTICS FOR THE REAL WORLD
It comes as the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the government’s goal is to test up to 100,000 people per day by the end of the month, stressing that ‘Our ultimate goal is that anyone who needs a test can have one.’
‘The new national effort for testing will ensure that we can get tests for everyone who needs them and I am delighted that the pharmaceutical industry is rising to this challenge, putting unprecedented resources into testing,’ he said.
Researchers say Samba can deliver a diagnosis in less than 90 minutes while current tests can take 24 hours or longer.
Once nasal and throat swabs have been collected from patients, the samples will be loaded into the machines, which look for tiny traces of genetic material belonging to the coronavirus.
They claim that tests in 102 patient samples were shown to have 98.7% sensitivity (ability to correctly identify positive cases) and 100% specificity (the ability to correctly identify negative cases) compared with the current NHS test.
“Testing healthcare workers could help reduce the risk of infection in healthcare facilities themselves, which might in turn assist national control efforts. It will also reduce the number of staff self-isolating for symptoms as we could use the test to determine who is actually infected. At present the lack of testing is resulting in severe staff shortages nationally.”
– PROFESSOR RAVI GUPTA FROM THE CAMBRIDGE INSTITUTE FOR THERAPEUTIC IMMUNOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE
The machines will be used by healthcare workers as well as other patients suspected of having Covid-19 across the country.
It comes as the first patients from Addenbrooke’s and the Royal Papworth Hospitals are enrolled on a national trial to find treatments for Covid-19.
Doctors describe the trial as “our best chance” of fighting the virus with medication.
“What we really want to offer our patients is the confidence that we have something that we know works and not something that we have to rely on reports that haven’t been validated through clinical trials.”
– DR MARTIN KNOLLE, ADDENBROOKE’S HOSPITAL
“Technically, the university has been shuttered but actually almost every researcher I know is working on Covid. Some of them are doing it remotely, some of them are coming in. There’s a whole campus that’s pointed at this.”
– DR MARK TOSHNER, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
