DnaNudge has been announced as a finalist for the XPRIZE Rapid COVID-19 Testing Competition. The company is one of the top 20 performing businesses globally, and the award has been directed to the CovidNudge test. The test provides results in 90 minutes and, importantly, does not require any lab processing, pipettes or manual sample pre-processing in its operation.

A study published in The Lancet Microbe journal found that the test’s average sensitivity was 94.4% compared against standard UK NHS lab-based tests, while its specificity was 100%. DnaNudge’s portable point-of-care test has successfully miniaturised the gold-standard lab-based PCR test to be performed by a Wi-Fi-enabled, battery-powered device the size of a shoebox – the NudgeBox – that can be used anywhere to accurately detect the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from a swab sample in just over an hour.

According to the XPRIZE award CEO, the programme is “inspiring the best entrepreneurial and scientific teams to come together to work towards rapid, affordable COVID-19 testing at scale, and ultimately, getting the world up and running again.” The UK Government made a sizeable order in August for 5.8 million CovidNudge test kits. The testing solution is now in a UK-wide roll-out across NHS urgent patient care and elective surgery settings. An in-store adaptation of the test called the DnaNudge COVID “Bubble Test” is also available for use by groups of asymptomatic people (in bubbles) of up to 10 individuals. The final judging process for the XPRIZE award will take place from February 11^th to 19^th 2021, with an overall winner announced that month.