French drugmaker Sanofi is collaborating with US start-up Luminostics to develop a smartphone-based self-diagnosis test for COVID-19 that could give a result within 30 minutes.

The two companies say the test would take the form of an iOS or Android smartphone app linked to a plug-in device that could be used by patients on their own, needing no access to a healthcare professional or laboratory.

It could be available before the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals, they suggest.

San Jose, California-based Luminostics has developed a smartphone-based diagnostic platform that can detect a broad range of substances – bacteria, viruses, small molecules, hormones, and proteins for example – from a variety of sample types.

It uses nanoparticles that bind to their target – in this case SARS-CoV-2 genetic material – and result in a glow-in-the-dark chemical reaction.

The luminescence can be detected using a consumer smartphone’s built-in camera and flash plus a low-cost, reusable plastic adapter as the reader device, with 100 to 1,000-fold lower detection limits than conventional visual assays, according to the company.

Source: pharmaphorum.com