Microbix Biosystems Inc (MBXBF)

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FedDev Ontario funding recipients contribute to COVID-19 testing advancements
Two Ontario-based biotechnology companies are supporting the fight against COVID-19 with innovative new advancements in rapid testing and laboratory workflow and quality control.

Microbix Biosystems Inc., a life sciences innovator based in Mississauga, recently announced the first shipments of a new class of its quality assessment products (QAPsTM). These products are clinically-relevant inactivated controls that maximize workflow accuracy of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests. Microbix has shipped well over a thousand COVID-19 antigen QAP products internationally for testing on numerous test platforms in relevant clinical lab environments. Like Microbix’s PCR test QAPs, the COVID-19 antigen QAPs will be registered and licenced as in vitro diagnostic (IVD) medical devices for worldwide clinical lab use. Until then, they are being sold to lab accreditation agencies and end users for test development and evaluation, test installation and training purposes.

As well, the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program recently provided Nicoya, a Kitchener-Waterloo-based biotechnology company, with almost $300,000 to develop a portable COVID-19 diagnostic test that will expand testing capabilities in centralized and point-of-care settings such as hospitals, laboratories, clinics and long-term care homes. Nicoya’s innovative new antigen-based rapid test, Atlas, is an inexpensive, single-use portable device that is able to process a saliva sample and upload results to a smartphone app in under 20 minutes.

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