Mawi iSWAB Microbiome-EL Enables Prime Discoveries’ Development of Rapid Extraction-Less COVID Diagnostic Assay
Mawi DNA Technologies (Mawi), a biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative technologies for biosampling, announces that Prime Discoveries has successfully developed CovidDetect™, a rapid isothermal amplification diagnostic assay for detecting SARS-CoV-2. Without the need for RNA extraction and purification, the sample result occurs in less than 30 minutes. The assay uses Mawi’s new iSWAB Microbiome-EL (Extraction-Less) sample collection technology. This allows RNA release from the sample and maintains stability, protecting it from degradation and allowing room temperature storage and transport.
Prime Discoveries recently received CE IVD marking for CovidDetect™ and plans to pursue FDA 510K approval soon. Clinical results from Prime CovidDetect™ has been peer reviewed and recently published in PLOS ONE under “A Rapid, Specific, Extraction-Less, and Cost-Effective RT-LAMP Test for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Clinical Specimens.” The CE marking allows deployment of a solution to countries in Africa and Asia where rapid, inexpensive diagnostics for various infections with minimal technical expertise and equipment infrastructure is highly required.
Prime CovidDetect™ leverages Mawi’s unique iSWAB Microbiome-EL sample collection buffer with Prime Discoveries’ patented Loop AMPlification (LAMP) technology. This allows isothermal nucleic acid amplification removing the need for expensive thermal cycling equipment required for PCR. The Extraction-Less protocol bypasses the expensive and complex nucleic acid extraction and purification step, saving 60-90 minutes of sample processing time needed for PCR.
Arun Manoharan, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer at Prime Discoveries, said, “The COVID pandemic has shown that there is a big need for rapid diagnostic assays. Prime Discoveries aims to build a portfolio of solutions which can provide results in under 45 minutes with minimal laboratory, reagent and technical skill requirements. This is ideal for point of care testing in rural neighborhoods, mobile testing, border points of entry and clinical locations with minimal infrastructure. Our work with COVID has shown stable performance of the Mawi iSWAB Microbiome-EL for hundreds of clinical samples with similar or superior performance to RT-PCR solutions. Samples have been stable for more than two weeks with minimal RNA degradation along with high compatibility with our isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques.” He added, “Our partnership with Mawi enables Prime Discoveries to develop room temperature sampling with Extraction-Less capabilities for our rapid diagnostic solutions in many areas. These include influenza, chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomonas, HBV, HCV, HPV, TB, herpes, syphilis, etc. We are excited to partner with Mawi for future products empowering customers to test thousands of patients rapidly for various infections including respiratory, gastrointestinal, sexually transmitted pathogens and those with anti-microbial resistance.”
About Prime Discoveries
Prime Discoveries develops rapid, novel diagnostics for emerging pathogen infections with a focus on cost effective, massively scalable and easily automatable assays. Founded in NYC in 2017, Prime’s scientists have extensive backgrounds in microbiology, computational biology, lab automation and AI from Genentech, Cooper Genomics, Recombine, Phosphorus, and NYU. Prime is advised by leading experts in the fields of genomics and public health including Dr. George Church and New York University. Prime is supported by academic institutions, venture capital firms and angel investors including New York University, Charles Zegar (Bloomberg), Esther Dyson (23 & Me), BoxGroup, Akron Fusion Ventures, Beresford Ventures, Cannonball Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Francois Nader (Moderna, Acceleron, Shire), Unshackled Ventures, Doberman Forward, and others. For more information, visit www.primediscoveries.com.
About Mawi DNA Technologies
Mawi DNA Technologies, founded in 2013, has developed and commercialized the iSWAB technology, an innovative system for collection of biosamples. Mawi’s mission is to uphold sample integrity from anywhere in the world at room temperature, enabling true sample diversity across any geography or population segment. At Mawi, The Future of Biosampling is Here™. For more information, visit http://www.mawidna.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425005323/en/
Contact information
Investors:
Jerome David, VP of Sales and Marketing
510-256-5186, j.david@mawidna.com
Media Contact:
Susan Tellem, APR, RN, BSN
310-313-3444, susan@tellemgrodypr.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Ant International Wins Champion of NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection8.12.2025 05:37:00 EET | Press release
Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, has won first place at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207210856/en/ Ant International’s solution takes top spot at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection, emerging first among over 2,100 submissions from 162 teams globally. AI Fairness enhances Financial Security Studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) show that many commercial facial recognition algorithms have significantly higher error rates for women and people of colour largely due to underrepresentation in datasets AI algorithms are trained on. Biased algorithms lead to unfair denials of service and create security vulnerabilities. The competition at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, among the world’s most prestigious AI con
Sonrotoclax Data at ASH 2025 Confirm Foundational Potential Across B-cell Malignancies8.12.2025 01:00:00 EET | Press release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced new data on sonrotoclax, a next-generation investigational BCL2 inhibitor, demonstrating meaningful clinical benefit as monotherapy and in combination across B-cell malignancies. These data were featured at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, Florida. The five presentations highlight durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and additional studies showing deep, rapid, and sustained undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) rates with sonrotoclax-based combinations in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), highlighting the foundational potential of this medicine. “The data we’re presenting at ASH 2025 are redefining what physicians can expect from sonrotoclax as a next-generation BCL2 inhibitor,” said Amit Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical
Hemato-Oncology Trials: AOP Health Presents New Results at Top Congress ASH7.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
AOP Health continues to advance its clinical research program in myeloproliferative neoplasms, a special group of rare blood cancers. The company, specialized in rare diseases, presented the results of two scientific investigations at the 67th American Society of Hematology Association (ASH) Annual Meeting 2025 held in Orlando, FL, USA. The results provide new insights in treatment strategies. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207587915/en/ Dr. Martin Steinhart, CEO AOP Health; Photo credit: AOP Health/Studio Koekart ROP-ET and BESREMI PASS One of the clinical studies, ROP-ET, examined the use of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in people with essential thrombocythemia (ET), a disease in which the body produces too many platelets. The trial, a prospective, multicenter, single-arm phase III study, investigated the safety and efficacy of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in ET patients unable to receive available cytoreductive th
CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 Launches in Riyadh: Global Mobility Leaders Unite in Saudi Capital to Chart Urban Future7.12.2025 14:00:00 EET | Press release
Riyadh is rapidly becoming one of the world's most ambitious urban mobility laboratories, where next-generation technologies move from blueprint to real-world deployment on city streets at unprecedented scale. CoMotion GLOBAL 2025, the world's most influential gathering of urban mobility leaders, opens today in Riyadh for a three-day summit bringing together innovators from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Running December 7-9, the event will explore how electrification, autonomy, AI-enabled transport, and giga-project urbanism are reshaping cities worldwide. The summit will spotlight everything from high-performance EVs and breakthrough autonomous fleets to emerging-market transport solutions and new mobility models, demonstrating how the Kingdom is opening new pathways for global mobility leadership. Strategic Partnerships Powering the Summit CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 is hosted by the Saudi Conventions & Exhibitions General Authority (SCEGA), supported by key Saudi
Deciphera Announces Oral Presentation of Positive Topline Results from Phase 2a Study of Sapablursen in Polycythemia Vera at the 67 th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting6.12.2025 16:30:00 EET | Press release
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, a member of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka, Japan; President and COO: Toichi Takino; “Ono”), today announced the oral presentation of positive results from the Phase 2a IMPRSSION study of sapablursen in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, taking place December 6-9, 2025, in Orlando, FL. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251206361611/en/ The results were presented by Ionis Pharmaceuticals, who discovered and developed sapablursen and conducted the IMPRSSION study. In March 2025, Ionis and Ono entered into a license agreement in which Ono obtained exclusive global rights for the development and commercialization of sapablursen. “In the treatment of PV, phlebotomy and cytoreductive therapy are performed as treatments for preventing thrombosis. Phlebotomy is the most common treatment for PV, in which blood
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom