Kahala Biosciences LLC, an Irvine-based COVID-19 testing and tracking company, and technology partner Rymedi, Inc., a Greenville, South Carolina-based developer of blockchain-based protocols and solutions for complex life sciences and pharmaceuticals, today announced the ADIONA™ COVID-19 antibody testing platform, the first system available in the U.S. that integrates antibody testing with a blockchain-based smartphone software application to bring predictability and traceability to COVID-19 antibody testing. Antibody testing is used to determine if someone has been previously infected with the COVID-19 virus and may have developed immunity.
The ADIONA™ platform combines a rapid point-of-care antibody (IgG/IgM) test performed using a simple finger stick with an end-to-end blockchain solution. The platform is designed to authenticate each test kit from manufacturer to patient, ensure patient privacy via encrypted data, prevent results tampering and data loss, allow instant access to their test result from the cloud and, ultimately, enable symptom tracking.
The combination of accurate and widely available testing with tracking or tracing platforms has been identified as a best practice to counter and ultimately contain the spread of COVID-19.1 According to Scientists To Stop COVID-19, a group of top U.S. scientists and business leaders collaborating with the federal government, the tenets of restoring our society and economy include frequent testing for the virus, antibody testing and daily certification of symptoms.2
“Authentication and reliability of antibody testing has been an issue as it has been introduced to this country,” said Kahala Biosciences CEO Francis Duhay, MD. “We are focused on ensuring the quality and scalability of our antibody test, and to that end, have created a proprietary, first-of-its-kind, secure platform that will ensure the authenticity of our products making their way to healthcare professionals and the patients for which they care. Beyond that, and perhaps more important to restarting our country, our platform technology will serve as a virtual clearinghouse to centralize protected, tamper-proof patient test results, which facilitates decision-making between employer and employee, so no other identification or testing is required to certify employee COVID-19 status. We believe this end-to-end, point-of-care platform addresses all the requirements to enable employers to bring their employees safely back to work on a broad scale.”
“Our blockchain-enabled technology builds trust into the very fabric of the integrated solution,” said Rymedi CEO David Stefanich. “From the quality of test kits, to the integrity of data, to the security of private data, we will provide healthcare providers, employers, patients, regulators and public health officials with a solution that supports critical decision-making in order to protect patient and public health and safety.”
The technology behind the ADIONA platform incorporates a mobile device application for real-time test results and geolocation reporting, as well as cryptographically secured QR codes to verify the authenticity of kits, reagents and test results. Blockchain-enabled data management provides predictive analytics to better anticipate and respond to disease outbreaks, while fully complying with HIPAA, GDPR and cGxP requirements.
In practical use, the ADIONA platform enables the patient to confidentially input health information and receive a personalized QR code prior to testing. The QR code is used to track them through the testing process, and allows them to depart immediately after their finger-prick test and receive their private test results to their phone within 15 minutes. All information about the test manufacturer, shipping, user health and personal information, payment, time and location of testing, and results will be accessible on the patient’s phone secured by blockchain technology. This information will not only be important to employers in checking employee health status with the employee’s permission, but will also be useful for regional tracking of disease trends while protecting individual patient privacy.
Future capabilities of the platform include point-of-care testing from home or work outside of a healthcare environment, and symptom tracking via a daily digital questionnaire completed on a smartphone app that assesses risk.
About Kahala Biosciences LLC
Irvine, California-based Kahala Biosciences LLC empowers employers to bring their employees safely back to the workplace by providing an end-to-end solution that facilitates rapid diagnostic testing for all employees, as well as those at high risk of contracting or transmitting the virus (health care workers). Kahala is a portfolio company of Koa Accel, a hyper-accelerator transforming life-saving medical device ideas into vibrant commercial ventures.
About Rymedi, Inc.
Rymedi exists to help the healthcare industry collaborate and create value across silos. With technology designed for the highest global regulations, Rymedi enables companies across the healthcare ecosystem to more effectively capture, track and share data for smarter, faster health impact and improved patient outcomes.
1. https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/sites/default/files/atoms/files/covid-19_surveillance_roadmap_final.pdf
2. https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/Scientists_to_Stop_COVID19_2020_04_23_FINAL.pdf
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