The test is performed from a simple drop of blood taken from the patient's finger. - @ karlphotographer.com

  • The Breton company NG Biotech has announced the launch of a rapid screening test for coronavirus from a single drop of blood.
  • It expects first deliveries in the next two or three weeks and says it is ready to manufacture 500,000 tests as early as May.
  • The company has just won a contract with the Directorate-General for Armaments for an amount of one million euros.

With its rapid screening test for coronavirus from a single drop of blood, the Breton company NG Biotech caught the eye of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Based in Guipry near Rennes, the biotechnology company has just won the call for projects against the Covid-19 launched in mid-March by the Defense Innovation Agency. As a result, a contract for an amount of one million euros which has just been notified to him by the Directorate-General for Armaments to "allow him to launch very quickly the production of these new screening kits", indicates the Ministry of the Armed Forces in a press release.

The Ministry of the Armed Forces supports and finances the # Covid19 blood test project carried out by the Breton #PME NG Biotech
▶ ️ € 1 million contract signed by @DGA
▶ ️ Successful call for projects for innovative solutions launched by @ Agence_ID against # Covid19 pic.twitter.com/Nvk2jZClyZ

- Ministry of the Armed Forces (@Armees_Gouv) April 4, 2020

The contract signed "also includes the development of a second type of kit for direct detection of the virus, in saliva or by nasal sample and the securing of a supply chain of national reagents", continues the ministry.

The first deliveries expected in mid-April

Launched in a time trial, NG Biotech announced last week the commercial launch of its “ultra-rapid” serological test. This all-in-one, single-use test should detect the presence of antibodies specific to Covid-19 and indicate whether the patient is or has been in contact with the virus. All it takes is a single drop of blood taken from the fingertip using a lancing device. "The test then reads like a pregnancy test with a result that is known in just 15 minutes," Milovan Stankov Pugès, CEO of the company, told 20 Minutes .

Thanks to this financial boost from the army, NG Biotech will be able to launch its massive production of tests with first deliveries expected between the second and third week of April. "We plan to manufacture 500,000 tests in May, 800,000 in June and one million in July," said the entrepreneur, adding that his company's tests will initially be reserved for healthcare professionals in France.

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  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • Health
  • Reindeer
  • Army
  • Screening