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Bond Digital Health: How coronavirus demonstrated the need for connected diagnostics and accelerated our development plans
In January this year, before it had even been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation, we wrote on our website about how the emerging coronavirus outbreak demonstrated the need for digitally connected diagnostic tests. Within a month we were putting our words into practice, having joined a global consortium led by our Canadian partners Sona Nanotech to add our unique digital connectivity and data capture technology to a new rapid test for the virus.
By this point we had been developing our white label platform, called Transform, for two years, and were due to launch it officially at an international trade show towards the end of 2020. But the coronavirus outbreak changed everything for us. We quickly realised that we would have to bring forward our development timeline if we were to add this invaluable functionality to Sona’s much-needed test.
The new test is based on lateral flow technology, which is used in a wide range of human diagnostics, including for infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria and HIV. It can be administered at the point of use without the need for skilled technicians or additional laboratory equipment.
Many of the currently available rapid testing kits aren’t specific or sensitive enough to detect COVID-19, because they look for antibodies which are only identifiable post infection. Sona’s test is a direct antigen test that looks for a specific coronavirus protein. Using a nasal swab sample, it will produce results in 5-15 minutes and will cost less than US $50. The consortium, which also includes GE Healthcare Life Sciences, is aiming to make the test as sensitive as possible to detect as little amount of the virus as possible.
This is the test that governments and health authorities across the world want. It will have no competition in situations where quick and accurate information is needed, for example at airports, in the health service, going into work, etc.
However, testing is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to COVID-19. We need to go beyond just testing and capture the data at the point of testing, manage it in the cloud and then geo-map the results visually. Only then will we stand a chance of controlling the spread of the virus in real time and deploying resources fast and effectively. That’s what Transform does. It’s a secure and compliant platform with end-to-end connectivity, which transforms traditional lateral flow devices into web connected diagnostics with accessible, shareable data. Adding this to the test will allow valuable test data to be securely captured, stored, analysed and shared in real time. This could ultimately allow authorities to monitor the spread of the outbreak. In April we received a huge boost to our efforts when we received £700,000 in equity funding that would allow us to hire additional technical and admin staff to help speed up development of the technology. We turned to Wealth Club, the high net worth investment service, whose members invested £400,000, and the Development Bank of Wales, whose technology venture investments team provided a further £300,000. We’re following this up with a Series A investment round in the coming months. The investment capped a hugely successful 12 months for us. Earlier in 2020, we moved into our new offices at The Maltings in Cardiff to accommodate our growing team. We were also nominated for two awards at the inaugural Wales STEM Awards and shortlisted in BusinessCloud’s Wales Tech 50 2020, a ranking of the county’s most innovative technology companies. Last year we were named one of the 50 Most Exciting Companies in Wales by a Wales Business Insider magazine. We knew 2020 was going to be an important year for Bond Digital Health and our technology. But we could never have imagined that a global pandemic would be the thing to prove the urgent need for that technology. Alongside our partners, we’re proud to be playing our part in the global fight against this devastating virus.
