BOSTON — Across the globe, public health experts have agreed that easing access to testing for COVID-19 is the best and most efficient tool we currently have to curb the spread of the virus.
However, while testing has become more widely available, one major hurdle for healthcare workers has been the shortage of specialized nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs used to collect samples from patients.
Now, a clinical study conducted by a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified four new prototypes of 3D-printed swabs that can be used for COVID-19 testing.
“In this study, we describe the first clinical-trial results of our effort to develop and evaluate multiple new swab prototypes on an extremely tight timeline to address a critical shortage brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Ramy Arnaout. “Through the work of a large and selfless team from health care, academia, and the private sector, it took just 22 days from the time we identified the swab shortage to when our trial clinically validated the first new swab capable of high-throughput manufacture.”
In mid-March, Arnaout and his co-workers noticed impending swab shortages could hamper testing for the virus. Soon, the team had 150 new swab designs made of 45 different materials submitted by 23 companies, laboratories and individuals across the country for BIDMC’s consideration.
“To develop novel, effective alternatives as quickly and safely as possible, we and our collaborators modeled our process on scientific studies that have shown that open and collaborative processes outperform closed or proprietary ones when it comes to time-sensitive innovation,” Arnaout said. “We hope our collective experience can provide a useful roadmap to others working under the pressure of a public health emergency.”
The team established a three-part protocol to evaluate newly-designed prototypes from third parties, as well as existing medical swabs that could be repurposed, to serve as a substitute for the standard swabs, which are critical in the specimen collection process for diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
After carefully considering all aspects of the testing process, sizing, materials available, etc., the team was able to narrow down the swab prototypes to four different kinds.
The team also considered variations in the supply chains required for each prototype, “to minimize the risk of future single failure points such as those that contributed to this current swab-shortage crisis,” Arnaout added.
“When the virus first emerged, one of the great barriers facing hospitals was the limited availability of testing,” said Gyongyi Szabo, MD, PhD, Chief Academic Officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Beth Israel Lahey Health. “BIDMC’s mission as an academic medical center includes to bring innovation from our laboratories to the bedside. This effort demonstrates the power of successful collaboration among BIDMC, academic and industry partners to respond to the extraordinary challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
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