In response to COVID-19, companies and teams across Canada are stepping up to urgent calls from governments looking for homegrown innovation that can protect the country’s health during this challenging time.
New to the healthcare space, but with a strong foundation in testing, Precision Biomonitoring (PB), a Canadian industry leader in offering point-of-need molecular detection tools for rapid results, answered the call for innovation. PB, who had traditionally existed within the agriculture and food safety space, partnered with Biomeme out of the United States, to develop and import a rapid mobile detection device called SARS-CoV-2 Go Strips. Offering more testing choices at the point-of-need with a lab-in-a-box COVID-19 test kit, the product provides reliable lab-quality results on the spot and delivers up to nine test results in 60 minutes. This is a very important feature for both small and large organizations, such as remote mining sites, who need rapid results to create peace of mind for their workers with an environment safe from COVID-19, as Canada’s economy opens back up.
Leveraging our healthcare, public affairs and media relations expertise, NATIONAL worked with PB, to build awareness of the company as an innovative, dedicated partner making a foray into healthcare. Working towards Health Canada approval, NATIONAL helped PB engage government bodies and healthcare partners in order to advance regulatory submissions, secure grant funding and ensure the innovative, mobile testing technology reached communities that need it most, especially rural and remote areas.
The rapid COVID-19 testing solution received approval from Health Canada in July 2020, and so the SARS-CoV-2 Go Strips are now licensed for import and sale in Canada.
Precision Biomonitoring was featured in an episode of our video series The Pivot. Click here to learn more about their work.