Carolina Liquid Chemistries Offers COVID 19 Test Kits
Carolina Liquid Chemistries Offers COVID-19 Test Kits
Greensboro diagnostics and drug screening company Carolina Liquid Chemistries (CLC) is now selling COVID-19 test kits.
CLC said it offers two real-time RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) tests that detect nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in people who have contracted the coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. The diagnostics can identify the macromolecules in nasal and throat swabs and sputum.
The DiaCarta RT-PCR QuantiVirus test targets three genes (Orf1ab, N, and E) with close to 97 percent sensitivity and 100 percent specificity. A higher production version, the QuantiVirus SARS-CoV-2 Multiplex Test Kit, also is available.
In addition, CLC provides manual and automated test kits to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The lateral flow COVID-19 lgG/IgM Rapid Test Device identifies individuals with an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, which indicates recent or prior infection. It uses a chromatographic immunoassay to detect the rate of change between IgM and LgG antibodies in whole blood, serum or plasma. The test can produce results in 15 minutes.
The company also supplies ultra-thin nasal and throat swabs and other viral transport media (VTM) that stabilize viruses and prevent microbial contamination during the transport of clinical specimens.
All the test kits were granted Emergency Use Authorization under U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for coronavirus testing during a public health crisis. They are authorized for laboratory use only.
"As case numbers have increased, so has demand for testing and the importance of trustworthy supply sources," said CLC founder and CEO Philip Shugart. "Carolina Liquid Chemistries has been sourcing and manufacturing diagnostic test kits for over 25 years. It made sense for us to leverage our product sourcing capability to fill this need in the healthcare supply chain."
Shugart founded CLC in 1994. He's a native North Carolinian who began his career with medical device manufacturers Coulter Electronics and Beckman Instruments. Shugart received the North Carolina Biotechnology Center's Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2014.
Bryant Haskins, NCBiotech Writer
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