ABC Labs and Capitainer offer Covid-19 antibody testing using dried blood from self-sampling throughout Sweden
Trials show over 95% of Capitainer qDBS cards returned meet lab testing quality requirements
Stockholm, Sweden, November 3, 2021. From November 8th, ABC-Labs will offer analysis of Covid-19 antibody levels on dried blood from self-sampling using the qDBS card developed by Capitainer, this year’s Guldpillret winner. The sampling method has been proven to both work well in home environments and be scalable during the pandemic. A qDBScard with clear simple to follow instructions is sent to the patient by regular post, the sample is then taken by the patient himself and the card is subsequently returned to the lab for analysis. Test results are delivered within a few days.
Several studies with the new sampling method by, among others, the Public Health Agency of Sweden and Region Västerbotten have already been carried out and a large study of 5000 patients from Sweden's nursing homes has recently been initiated. Capitainer's qDBS technology for self-sampling in home environments works well. Studies have shown that > 95% of qDBS cards returned to the lab met the quality standard for accurate analysis for clinical diagnosis.
"Creating affordable, accessible, and readily available testing has been critical for pandemic management and is a key component of building a solid healthcare infrastructure. Our partnership with Capitainer will make it more convenient for people to sample remotely and reliably check antibody levels using high-precision lab analyses. We aim to build on this by launching other similar products to improve connectivity between patients and healthcare, including for example remote monitoring of chronic diseases, viruses, and the early identification of risk factors", says Ahsan Amjad, CEO ABC Labs.
Christopher Aulin, CEO of Capitainer comments:
"We are extremely pleased that ABC Labs now enables healthcare providers, pharmacies or occupational health care companies to send laboratory antibody tests for Covid-19 to them for analysis. The arrangement with ABC Labs offers both self-sampling and assisted sampling. We believe there is great interest from the general public to get credible information when it comes to their antibody levels, thereby not being left with the only current option - to rely on rapid tests with uncertain precision."
About home self-sampling with qDBS
Capitainer's product Capitainer® qDBS is based on Dried Blood Spot (DBS) technology and is developed by researchers in nanotechnology at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in collaboration with researchers from Karolinska Institute. Unlike other DBS-based solutions, qDBS ensures an accurate amount of blood, providing more reliable analytical results and enabling more applications. The sampling card can be transported to a laboratory by regular mail without the need for refrigeration or special packaging.
Sampling procedure
- The card is supplied with accessories for sampling in a protective package opened by the patient.
- With the help of an automatic Lancet Device, prick the fingertip
- A large drop of blood is applied to the card which automatically measures up to 10μl
- The patient receives immediate confirmation of successful sampling by the collection disc being visible behind transparent plastic
- The card is placed in a paper-based return case and then placed in an envelope and sent to the laboratory
Contacts
Ahsan Amjad, CEO ABC Labs, 073 330 28 73 ahsan@abclabs.se
Christopher Aulin, CEO Capitainer, 0708 977 577 aulin@capitainer.se.
About ABC Labs
ABC Labs was founded in Stockholm in April 2020, as a direct response to the need for rapidly scalable, state-of-the-art PCR and ELISA tests as means for flatten the curve in terms of the number of infected and sick people in Covid 19 during the pandemic and save lives. Continuing with these tests remains ABC Lab's focus. Thousands of tests are done daily for both the Public Health Agency of Sweden and a number of regional and private healthcare providers. ABC Labs is still among the largest private actors supporting the Swedish strategy.
The future use of the created infrastructure will encompass cost-effective and important diagnostics on a large scale for healthcare providers, employers and decision makers. ABC Labs was founded by Per Båtelson, Ahsan Amjad, Ola Winqvist, Maria Rankka and Johannes Schildt. All tests are carried out in a state-of-the-art laboratory at Biomedicum, Karolinska Institutet, Campus Solna in Stockholm.
For more information visit https://www.abclabs.se/.
About Capitainer
Capitainer AB is a Swedish Medtech company founded in 2013 by Professor Olof Beck from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute and Professors Göran Stemme, Asso. Prof. Niclas Roxhed and PhD Gabriel Lenk from the division of Micro- and Nanosystems at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden and business consultant Peter Bräutigam.
Capitainer is a provider of intelligent solutions for collecting an exact amount of blood or plasma during capillary sampling and then saving the samples in dried form. The application is available for use in many market segments, including but not limited to, therapeutic drug monitoring, biomarkers, genomics, drug development, drug abuse testing and doping. The company has a well-defined go-to-market strategy for new regions and a team with solid experience of sales and business development in life science.
For more information visit www.capitainer.se
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