DNA pathogen testing company PathogenDx Inc reported on Monday the receipt of the second grant to develop more accurate and efficient COVID-19 diagnostic testing technology from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Emergency Awards: Rapid Investigation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

The two year research project grant allows the company to expedite the research and development of its patented DetectX-Rv microarray. The technology can rapidly identify and detect multiple pathogens all in a single test, in six hours providing triplicate data per analyte for certainty in results with a simple and easy process.

Under an expedited research and development timeline, the company aims to utilize the additional funding to capture and identify new COVID-19 mutations, improve the sensitivity and specificity analysis of existing tests, improve testing turnaround by simplifying the detection of COVID-19 as well as enhance detection and diagnose asymptomatic transmission before the end of the two year time frame.