Prestigious honor validates potential of Alveo’s low-cost, accessible COVID-19 testing technology as company prepares for commercialization
Alveo Technologies has been named a winner of the $6M XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing Competition for its be.well COVID-19 Test. The be.well™ system is designed to enable testing for infectious diseases at home with results in minutes. It would come with nasal swabs, disposable cartridges, a handheld analyzer and application program compatible with any mobile device.
The $6M XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing Competition challenged innovators across the world to develop frequent, fast, cheap and easy COVID-19 screening solutions to help meet the surging demand for tests and relieve the global supply chain. Twenty finalist teams, including Alveo, were selected out of a pool of 219 semifinalists, with an initial 700 teams signing up. These semifinalists then had two weeks to send their testing kits and protocols to laboratories for clinical validation.
Alveo won $500,000 as one of the top five teams that is advancing to the final deployment phase where its technology will be matched to deployment sites to prepare and administer tests. Each team that successfully completes the deployment phase will be awarded an additional $500,000.
“The market for rapid COVID-19 tests has thus far been defined by high costs, low accessibility, long times to treatment and inconsistent performance,” said Alveo’s CFO, Julianne Averill. “This honor, coupled with our award of the CE Mark for European regulatory approval, demonstrates that the be.well COVID-19 Test is poised to begin commercialization, and holds the potential to transform the COVID-19 rapid testing market.”
With an initial focus on acute respiratory infections, including COVID-19, Influenza A/B and RSV, the be.well platform can be adapted to detect a wide range of diseases that threaten public health.
