Alveo Technologies Awarded Grant for its be.well™ COVID-19 Test
Alveo Technologies, today announced it has been awarded a grant to improve upon the performance and usability of its testing platform, and if successful, to advance the development and scale manufacturing of the company’s be.well™ COVID-19 test from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As the first of its kind platform, be.well™ is as accurate as a PCR test with all the benefits of an antigen test in terms of cost and accessibility that yields rapid test results via smartphone connectivity.
By collaborating with the foundation, Alveo will benefit from added resources and expertise needed to scale manufacturing up in a cost-effective manner to expand access to testing – not only in clinical settings and homes – but in remote settings, places of work, and other environments across the nation and the globe where testing for COVID-19 is limited. Because the be.well™ platform does not require expensive equipment, training, or special expertise in order to accurately use the device, it can be deployed anywhere and be used by anyone to detect active infections of SARS-CoV-2, making it an ideal tool in areas with minimal or no lab testing capabilities.
“At Alveo, we firmly believe that a disease anywhere, is a disease everywhere and we know more needs to be done to expand access to testing so that everyone can stay safe and healthy during a global pandemic,” said Ron Chiarello, PhD, Chairman, CEO and Founder of Alveo. “We are honored to receive this grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as it will enable Alveo to address this critical challenge.”
As part of supporting commercialization efforts, the grant provides resources for Alveo to streamline components and the supply chain helping to remove current barriers to infectious disease testing, helping to transform our response to current and future epidemic and pandemics. The grant’s focus on performance improvement will aid in the first phase of manufacturing scaling, as well as planning for subsequent phases. be.well™ will undergo additional vetting processes to establish that it is effective and accurate. Currently, be.well™ is under development and has not received clearance or approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.