Bosch Develops Rapid Test for COVID-19

Bosch Develops Rapid Test for COVID-19

COVID-19 is posing major challenges for healthcare systems and medical institutions worldwide. An ability to rapidly diagnose the virus is of invaluable help in curbing its exponential spread in many countries. Bosch’s new, fully automated rapid test for COVID-19 can help medical facilities make fast diagnoses.

The rapid molecular diagnostic test runs on the Vivalytic analysis device from Bosch Healthcare Solutions. “We want the rapid COVID-19 test to play a part in containing the coronavirus pandemic as quickly as possible. It will speed up the identification and isolation of infected patients,“ said Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch.

Developed in just six weeks, the rapid test can detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours measured from the time the sample is taken to the time the result arrives. Another advantage of the rapid test is that it can be performed directly at the point of care. This eliminates the need to transport samples, which takes up valuable time.

“Time is of the essence in the fight against coronavirus. Reliable, rapid diagnosis directly on site with no back and forth, that is the great advantage of our solution, which we see as another example of technology that is ‘Invented for life,“ Denner said. Bosch’s rapid test is one of the world’s first fully automated molecular diagnostic tests that can be used directly by all medical institutions. It allows a single sample to be tested not just for COVID-19 but also for nine other respiratory diseases, including influenza A and B, simultaneously.

“The special feature of the Bosch test is that it offers differential diagnosis, which saves doctors the additional time needed for further tests. It also provides them with a reliable diagnosis quickly so they can then begin suitable treatment faster,“ says Marc Meier, president of Bosch Healthcare Solutions. The newly developed test will be available in Germany starting in April, with other markets in Europe and elsewhere to follow. In various laboratory tests with SARS-CoV-2, the Bosch test delivered results with an accuracy of over 95 percen, so it meets the quality standards of the WHO.

A sample is taken from the patient’s nose or throat using a swab. Then the cartridge, which already contains all the reagents required for the test, is inserted into the Vivalytic device for analysis. The analyzer is designed to be so user-friendly that even medical personnel who have not been specially trained on it can reliably perform the test. Analyzer can perform up to ten tests in the space of 24 hours. This means it takes just 100 devices to evaluate up to 1,000 tests per day.