The innovative approach for surveilling communities involved testing the saliva left on single-use glasses and bottles for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in 20 different sites in Northern Italy during the second peak of COVID-19 in January and February 2021. The objects tested, including plastic coffee cups, plastic glasses, beverage cans, and plastic bottles discarded in snack bars, cafes, schools, and businesses, were swabbed, pooled, and then analyzed at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità using commercially available PCR reagents. Researchers then used Co-Diagnostics’ Logix Smart COVID-19 Test to corroborate the results with complete concordance. The positive samples were later sequenced, and some were found to contain the presence of mutated variants of the virus.

Dwight Egan, Chief Executive Officer of Co-Diagnostics, remarked, “We are pleased to add this study to the growing list of scientific literature that supports the value and utility of our testing technology, and specifically our original COVID-19 test that we developed in the earliest days of the pandemic. Demonstrating that the virus can survive in saliva samples on surfaces long enough to allow for surveillance of the community may allow for another tool in the fight against the pandemic, and we believe that the Logix Smart test, built on our patented CoPrimer™ platform, was chosen as the assay to confirm the results due to its reputation as a high-quality SARS-CoV-2 PCR test.”

The Science of the Total Environment paper can be found here.

About Co-Diagnostics, Inc.:

Co-Diagnostics, Inc., a Utah corporation, is a molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures and markets a state-of-the-art diagnostics technology. The Company’s technology is utilized for tests that are designed using the detection and/or analysis of nucleic acid molecules (DNA or RNA). The Company also uses its proprietary technology to design specific tests to locate genetic markers for use in industries other than infectious disease and license the use of those tests to specific customers.

Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “will” and similar expressions, or the negative of these words. Such forward-looking statements are based on facts and conditions as they exist at the time such statements are made and predictions as to future facts and conditions.  Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding the (i) use of funding proceeds, (ii) expansion of product distribution, (iii) acceleration of initiatives in liquid biopsy and SNP detection, (iv) use of the Company’s liquid biopsy tests by laboratories, (v) capital resources and runway needed to advance the Company’s products and markets, (vi) increased sales in the near-term, (vii) flexibility in managing the Company’s balance sheet, (viii) anticipation of business expansion, and (ix) benefits in research and worldwide accessibility of the CoPrimer technology and its cost-saving and scientific advantages. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances.  Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this press release is based only on information currently available to the Company and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement relating to matters discussed in this press release, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Co-Diagnostics