On Apr. 30, 2020, InBios announced that it had been awarded a contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to develop the SCoV-2 Detect IgM/IgG Rapid Test, a point-of-care test for detection of SCoV-2 specific IgM/IgG antibodies.

The lateral flow serodiagnostic test used blood products, from finger-prick samples, to identify people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19. This point-of-care assay detected SARS-CoV-2 reactive antibodies as host biomarkers.

Under the agreement, InBios will acquire reagents, including patient samples, develop product kits and carry out performance studies to validate the assay design for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Support from BARDA is expected to accelerate the progress toward EUA submission. Earlier this month, InBios received EUA for its Smart DetectTM SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR Kit.