SAN ANTONIO — The frenetic energy of rolling out a new product in a new market is evident when talking to MD Toxicology Group's Mark Nickle. He wants the precision to have an impact.
"We are a full diagnostic laboratory, and COVID is the latest test that we're taking on," he said.
The lab at 11827 Starcrest Drive specializes in drug testing for employers or sports entities, as well as forensic testing and analysis for doctors.
His latest venture is with Richard Uhling's Quadrant Biosciences. Uhling's company partnered with the State University of New York's Upstate University to develop and bring the Clarifi COVID-19 to market in six months.
The company got emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in late September.
"This is a test that we've used about a quarter (of a) million times in the State of New York over the last five weeks," Uhling said.
They signed an agreement with the State of New York and SUNY to offer Clarifi as a testing option.
While Clarifi is not the first saliva swab test on the market, the developers believe the test is more patient-friendly. According to the Uhling, the saliva sponge-based test is not as invasive or painful as the initial COVID-19 tests.
A test-seeker would put the sponge swab under their tongue and hand off the sample to MD Toxicology staff in a demonstration provided by company officials.
"It's a five-seconds-under-the-tongue mouth sponge," Nickle said.
Results, per the companies, are revealed in 24 hours. They believe it's a test the elderly and children will find more comforting.
Accuracy, of course, is also at stake. Uhling said they engineered Clarifi to limit false-negatives. They tout the test's limit of detection or ability to detect low concentrations of COVID-19.
"And that limit of detection really puts us in the very most sensitive tests of anywhere in the world," Uhling said. "We're able to detect down to as few as one copy of the virus per microliter of saliva."
Not yet available in San Antonio is Quandrant Biosciences's means to pool-test, as the company does in New York. There, Uhling said, they're able to collect results from 25 tests at one time.
They also have the wherewithal to conduct coronavirus wastewater surveillance. The company said it yields 2,500 samples per week.
"We have a small presence here in San Antonio and continue to build on that as San Antonio continues its progression of being a biotechnology hub."
The Clarifi COVID-19 tests are available by appointment. The MD Toxicology Group starts filling up spots on Thursday, and the tests will begin Oct. 16 at a trio of drive-up locations in the Alamo City.