As countries struggle to find a cure against the deadly Ebola disease, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) pledge $1 million for the development of Ebola test kits.
The grant will help support the partnership between life science companies, academic institutions and non-government organizations (NGO) in putting together a diagnostic test that will be faster and more accurate than existing ones.
The Ebola test kit will be easy to use, and suspected Ebola patients will have to give a single finger-stick of blood. Healthcare workers will get results from the tool within 45 minutes. The test kit is also said to be cheaper than existing devices.
"As the world's leader in life sciences, Massachusetts has a unique global platform for bringing innovations from the drawing board to the patient, from inspiration to commercialization, and from ideas to cures," said Patrick. "Through this investment and the work of the partnership, Massachusetts will play a central role in developing technologies that can control the spread of Ebola and save many lives as a result, in Africa and here in the United States."
Diagnostics For All, GE Healthcare, Harvard University and Cambridge Consultants are some of the participating organizations in the partnership. Diagnostics For All is already in the process of developing an Ebola detection kit.
Richard Sacra, an Ebola survivor who was infected in Liberia while treating patients, suggests that the testing tool will be of great importance on the field. The tool will make a big difference in the hardest hit regions and may save the lives of many.
Sacra says that in many West African regions, test specimens need to be transported to other regions, and test results are sometimes delayed by over 34 hours. Sacra added that the Ebola test kit will make it easier for healthcare providers to find out the results of a test and start treatment swiftly.
Fio Corporation, a Canada-based company, also announced that it has received $700,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which will be used for the development of a hand-held device that will perform a quick Ebola scan.
The latest Ebola outbreak started in February this year in western Africa and the disease has affected thousands of people. The disease has resulted in the death of more than 6,800 people mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
