Fast and reliable coronavirus tests have exceeded the combined study capabilities and monetary power of the richest countries and companies.
However, a 4-employee company, based in the village of Toddington, 65 km north of London, claims to have developed a saliva control that takes 20 seconds to process.
If it works, it may only provide an outlet to the coronavirus crisis and be a remarkable testament to a man’s ingenuity without formal clinical training.
But the initial emotion also shows other people’s collective depression over a miraculous solution and a willingness to suspend disbelief.
The “Virolens” check presented last week through a hard-to-understand British generation company called iAbra. People take an undeniable oral tampon, which is deposited in a black box. Inside the box, known as iAbra, is a virtual camera connected to a microscope. you can read about the pattern and see if it includes a COVID-19 virus. Present the answer in seconds.
The device is manufactured in Hartlepool, in the north-east of England, through a british publicly traded company, TT Electronics, whose percentage value rose by more than 40% when it was announced last week, rated at 439 million pounds ($750 million).
Heathrow Airport and Leidos Inc. , a $13 billion company, were touted as the “launch customers” of the test.
Greg Compton, the 33-year executive leader of iAbra and the chief architect of theArray, said last week that the company had also noticed “a huge call from American universities” and declared “a significant step forward in the war opposing COVID-19. “
By harboring the launch of the product last week, Heathrow really got excited. John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s executive leader, said the iAbra generation is “potentially more accurate” than popular PCR testing and encouraged the government to “accelerate this generation. “
But Heathrow and Leidos said they hadn’t really placed an order for the test, Leidos said he was in “active negotiations. “
“If we make a small mistake in writing (our version), I will tell everyone, yet we are essentially looking to do something smart for humanity as temporarily as possible,” Compton told the Financial Times.
He described the percentage value of TT Electronics that followed the news as a “chicken food” in the grand scheme of things.
The Virolens check “is based on generation of synthetic intelligence (AI) software generation software and microscopic holographic imaging,” according to iAbra, which is a highly specialized box of structural biology. The company says the generation “uses a virtual camera to a microscope to analyze saliva samples, with knowledge transmitted to a computer that is trained to identify the virus from other cells. “
“We only want 10 viral waste in one pattern to give a positive result,” Compton told the Financial Times. “At the end of January, we should review each and every one in Europe every month. “
iAbra is unlikely to offer such a product. Compton, who grew up in Bedfordshire and dropped out of school at age 17, said he “is still a PC boy” and wrote his first PC show at the age of seven. IT, first with Italian telecommunications company Tiscali SPA, then capita plc and BSkyB, but never with formal training.
He said he came up with the concept of generating COVID-19 checks while he was at Dubai Airport with his sister.
None of the other workers have experience in viruses or microscopy, although one of them has a PhD. physics.
In a promotional video, iAbra’s head of production and operations, Shane Tingey, who has aviation training, explains that he was assigned the task after his sister-in-law said Compton needed to “talk about production. “
“If you had said to me, ‘Would you like to come and replace the world?’, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he says in the video.
Before iAbra adjusts the world, you will need to demonstrate the reliability of your product, which has not yet earned external regulatory validation, nor does it appear to have forgotten the underlying knowledge of the company’s statements regarding the accuracy of the test.
“We’ve introduced our analytical specificity tests and we’re tracking the evidence,” Compton told the FT, “but it all takes time. “
He added: “I took massive dangers from a monetary point of view to put this on the market. “
One scientist said he became involved without delay in drafting the company’s publication, warning that the virus was “another cell” and showed “recklessness or terrifying ignorance. “
Despite Holland-Kaye’s enthusiasm, Heathrow now says it has no idea how accurate verification is. Virolens is one of 3 immediate checks that have been verified at the airport in recent weeks, with the effect of being sent to Condor government studies. Program.
“If it turns out that one of the provider checks is not accurateArray . . . then, obviously, it would probably not be used,” Heathrow told the FT. When asked why Holland-Kaye had described the check as “potentially more accurate” than existing swab controls, the company said, “This type of would have been provided to one of the 3 vendors with which we verified Array. It’s not like we approve iAbra in particular. “
Compton said he had spent years perfecting the set of rules that codified iAbra’s synthetic intelligence technology, and that partnering with other microscope corporations was a “marriage made in paradise. “
But the way the company calculated the accuracy of the control is not entirely transparent and it turns out that it could possibly have distorted the participation of virologists at the University of Bristol.
iAbra sent the FT a presentation that included data on the method used to determine the accuracy of the evidence, although several scientists stated that it did not include sufficient data on how the company reached its conclusions on the specificity and sensitivity of the test.
“We’ve established an approach and a platform, and the next ad circular will address the main points of testing,” Compton said. “We perceive that it is vital to gain trust in the system. “
In its initial press release, the company said: “The Virolens formula® has a sensitivity of 99. 8% and a specificity of 96. 7%, on the effects of an internal vitrovalidation study, designed through the University of Bristol, which demonstrates exciting evidence of concept. “
But academics at the University of Bristol said they were not concerned about any studies that tested the sensitivity and specificity of the evidence and complained about writing the press release. University of Bristol virologist David Matthews provided only samples of the COVID-19 virus to researchers. corporate and not concerned with its validation, he said.
Compton said researchers at the University of Bristol had done more than just supply samples and helped the company design its study. No fake in the press release was “done with malice,” he added.
We think it may be a game changer
Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, said: “We are in a pandemic, other people are dying of the disease and one company makes the decision that it is moderate to trick us all into making your check look as the most productive thing available. Referring to accusations about the accuracy of the check. “Legally, they can probably get away with it, but it can’t be morally acceptable. “
Compton said this characterization is “incredibly unfair. “
“We seek to do our thing to make things better. We have a network of mavericks who would like us to suffer for months,” he added.
Professor of Optical Physics at Imperial College London and virtual holographic microscopy specialist Peter Turk described clinical data provided through the company as a “mixture of other things. “While he announced that the generation was theoretically possible, he noted that there was still not enough evidence for the company’s claims.
For TT Electronics, the production contract has the perspective of a company that designs and manufactures sensors and semiconductors at sites across the UK.
Richard Tyson, executive leader of TT Electronics, called the generation “very exciting” and said, “In fact, we think it can be a game changer,” the company said it was not involved in validating the accuracy of the test.
“Our Hartlepool team has been working with this product for about 3 months and has extensive experience in producing electronic devices for a variety of applications,” the company said. “Like any medical device, Virolens wants external approval. We have made it clear that there are steps that need to be taken to conduct external and regulatory testing. “
American chip organization Intel, which also partnered with iAbra to create the artificial intelligence engine for check technology, posted an article on its online page Thursday about the check that has since been removed, but did not explain why. had disappeared.
Generational references are still blurred through obvious connections to an organization that has spent decades cheating on the fictional Monster Big Foot.
Lord Global Corp. , formerly Bigfoot Projects Inc. , budgets for the distribution of Virolens machines in Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia through KeyOptions, an Australian company that “helps provide meaningful measures that have an effect on its operations and profitability”. other people safe, ” according to their website.
Lord Global Chief Executive Officer Joseph Frontiere told the FT that he took over from the indexed corporation this year and that it was now a completely separate transaction and not related to the previous corporation. He is in the process of converting the entity’s call. to 27Health. Inc. , subject to approval through US regulators.
Lord Global’s “chairman of the board,” and in fact the only other user running in the company, is 24-year-old Alexandra Aizenshtadt, who is Frontiere’s wife. Aizenshtadt’s LinkedIn profile explains that she “benefits from a solid and deep world view by analyzing trends and communicating their complex concepts. “
But regardless of iAbra’s connection to a company with such a colorful history, scientists became involved in the risks inherent in implementing COVID-19 tests before they are well validated.
Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick, issued a note of skepticism about the “bombing of such evidence or speculation. “
“It’s a bit like the Wild West with that evidence, ” he said. “It’s disturbing. “
© 2020 The Financial Times Ltd
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