XPRIZE and
OpenCovidScreen have launched the $5 million XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing
competition to accelerate the development of high-quality COVID-19 testing that
is low-cost, easy-to-use, and fast-turnaround, enabling frequent testing.
The
XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition calls on the world’s brightest, most
innovative minds to develop new, low-cost testing solutions that range from
testing devices with 15-minute results to distributed lab testing methods with
“next morning” results. Frequent, fast-turnaround, easy-to-use testing enables
effective data-driven tracing and isolating strategies. Most
currently available COVID-19 tests are expensive, slow, invasive, and supply-chain
limited. XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing aims to scale testing capabilities 100x
past the current standard, the level of increase needed to more safely return
to everyday activities.
To
amplify impact, a $50 million “COVID Apollo Project” led by experienced life
sciences investors and company builders including RA Capital, Bain Capital,
Perceptive Advisors, Redmile Group, and Samsara Biocapital will work with
OpenCovidScreen and XPRIZE to accelerate the best ideas, technologies, and
innovations to market and scale them.
“Fast,
affordable, and accessible testing is crucial to containing the COVID-19
pandemic and safely reopening schools, businesses and other vital institutions,”
says Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing is inspiring
the best entrepreneurial and scientific teams to come together to work towards
rapid, affordable COVID-19 testing at scale, and ultimately, getting the world
up and running again.”
Teams
can compete in one of four categories – At Home, Point-of-Care, Distributed
Lab, or High-Throughput Lab. To ensure supply chain diverse solutions, entries
are encouraged in a variety of underlying testing approaches including PCR,
Isothermal/LAMP/RPA, CRISPR, antigen-detection, next generation sequencing, and
more. Entries will be judged on innovation, performance, turnaround time,
scaling properties and frequency enabled, ease-of-use, and cost.
“Any
strategy to contain the virus is reliant on frequent, fast, and reliable
testing, but testing supply chains are currently stretched to the limit. When
coupled with accelerating demand, test result turnaround times will slow even
further unless new solutions are brought to the table,” says Amir Banifatemi,
chief innovation and growth officer at XPRIZE and lead of the XPRIZE Pandemic
Alliance.
Seven
major national and regional health plans are collaborating as founding partners
of XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing – Blue Shield of California, Cambia
Health Solutions, Inc, Health Care Service Corporation, GuideWell
Mutual Holding Corporation, Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. (NJ), and
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. The Anthem Foundation and Anthem,
Inc., serve as the Founding Anchor Partners. Supporting partners include
leading healthcare, laboratory, and technology companies Google, Amazon, Ilumina, Ancestry, Thermo
Fisher Scientific, Exact Sciences, Centerview Partners, Twist
Bioscience, Opentrons, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and Testing
for America.
“Addressing
this pandemic requires strong collaboration across multiple industries and
disciplines. Healthcare, technology, and science are coming together in this
unique competition,” says Mariya Filipova, Vice President of Innovation at
Anthem.
Teams
must register to join the
competition by Aug. 31, 2020.