FDA-authorized test for home use is the most affordable PCR-quality rapid test on the market and at least 50 times more sensitive than leading rapid antigen tests
Detect announces consumer technology veteran Hugo Barra as CEO with vision to make home testing as accessible as smartphones
GUILFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Detect™, Inc., a Connecticut-based health technology company, announced today that its PCR-quality, at-home rapid Detect Covid-19 Test™ is now available for direct-to-consumer purchase on Detect.com at $49 for a single test and $39 for the reusable Detect Hub™. Detect’s FDA-authorized Covid-19 test is at least 50 times more sensitive than leading rapid antigen tests, allowing for earlier detection of the virus, and has been shown to recognize the Delta and Omicron variants by bioinformatic analysis. The Detect App™ guides individuals through 3 minutes of hands-on time in order to receive accurate PCR-quality results in 1 hour in the comfort of their home.
With the demand for rapid testing soaring as the nation approaches another winter surge of Covid-19 cases, Detect is also offering Detect Verified™, an add-on telehealth service to the Detect Covid-19 Test that generates a CDC-compliant certified test result that can be used for travel, work, or school needs. Detect Verified costs $20 and delivers certified results via email within minutes.
“We hope that the Detect Covid-19 Test, paired with Detect Verified, will allow families to travel and gather safely this holiday season,” says Owen Kaye-Kauderer, Detect’s co-founder and Chief Business Officer. “We aim to bring peace of mind to people seeking to urgently meet testing requirements—with easy online ordering at Detect.com, free two-day shipping, certified results via Detect Verified, and 24/7 customer support.”
Ushering in a New Era for Consumer Healthcare Diagnostics
In March 2020, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, scientist and serial entrepreneur who invented a number of life-changing healthcare technologies including the original next-generation DNA sequencing platform that first identified the Omicron variant, began working on a novel idea: how to bring the accuracy of a PCR laboratory test into the home.
Rothberg knew that rapid molecular testing would be critical to fight the global pandemic as individuals would need highly accurate rapid results to stop the virus from spreading. He pivoted his teams across the 4Catalyzer biotechnology incubator to begin working on an at-home rapid molecular Covid-19 test, and he asked consumer technology veteran and friend Hugo Barra to step in and partner with him on this important mission.
“When we started Detect, we knew that in order to make a difference in the pandemic, our test would need to be as accurate as a PCR lab, but as easy-to-use and as affordable as possible so that everyone could have rapid testing in their home,” said Dr. Rothberg. “Clearly we needed someone with world class experience building and scaling consumer technology products. We were lucky to have Hugo Barra immediately answer our call for support and jump in to help us on product design, manufacturing and commercialization— and eventually step in as full-time CEO, making our test the most affordable rapid molecular test on the market today.”
Barra joined Detect from Facebook (now Meta), where he led the Oculus Virtual Reality division. Prior to that, Barra was the Vice President of Global for Xiaomi, currently the world’s #1 smartphone manufacturer, where he was responsible for growing the Chinese startup from a single market to 20 countries and a wide range of consumer electronics products, paving the way to the company’s $50B+ IPO in 2018. Prior to Xiaomi, Barra was the Vice President for Android product management at Google, where he led development of the Android operating system and growth of the Android ecosystem from its early days to the first billion users.
“From the beginning, Jonathan and I have shared a vision of a world where people are empowered to understand their own health in the comfort and privacy of their homes,” says Barra. “Our north star at Detect is to build a Personal Diagnostics Device that can be as intuitive, affordable and indispensable to our lives as the smartphone. We’ve assembled an amazingly talented team of scientists, designers and engineers to make this happen.”
Detect has raised $110M in venture capital from leading investors and will use these funds to build a highly scalable, global consumer diagnostics platform that will enable many future home tests for respiratory diseases, STIs, maternal health, and many others. In addition, Detect was selected by the highly competitive National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Initiative (RADxSM) for an $8.1 million contract to scale up manufacturing of the Detect Covid-19 Test.
Detect, Inc. is part of biotechnology accelerator 4Catalyzer, which has launched Butterfly Network (NYSE: BFLY), Quantum-Si (NASDAQ: QSI), Hyperfine, AI Therapeutics, Tesseract, Liminal Sciences and Protein Evolution. All of the 4Catalyzer companies strive to transform 21st century medicine by solving today’s most challenging problems across life science research tools, medical devices and therapeutics. To learn more, visit: Detect.com and 4Catalyzer.com.
About the Detect Covid-19 Test:
Authorized by FDA EUA for over-the-counter home use, the Detect Covid-19 Test is a PCR-quality rapid test that provides Covid-19 results at home in 1 hour. To perform the test, individuals need a single-use Detect Covid-19 Test, a reusable Detect Hub, and the Detect App, which provides easy step-by-step video instructions to guide the user through the test-taking process. When compared to a highly sensitive PCR test in clinical studies, the Detect Covid-19 Test demonstrated 97.3% overall agreement, with 90.9% sensitivityand 100% specificitywhen the test results were interpreted correctly, which makes it among the most accurate tests available for home use. The Detect Covid-19 Test is shown by bioinformatics analysis to recognize all Variants of Concern, including Delta and Omicron.
About Detect™, Inc.
Detect, Inc. (www.detect.com) is a health technology company with the mission to build tools that empower people to understand their health and make informed, timely decisions by bringing accurate testing into the home. Founded by world-renowned scientist, entrepreneur and National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipient, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, Detect, Inc. has created an accurate, fast, and easy-to-use PCR-quality molecular Covid-19 test.
The Detect Covid-19 Test has not been FDA cleared or approved but has been authorized by FDA under EUA. This product has been authorized only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens. The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of Covid-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated, or authorization is revoked sooner.
This project is supported by the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative and has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from NIBIB, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N92022C00002.
Contacts
MEDIA:
Shawna Marino
press@detect.com