Yorkshire company aims to provide instant breath test for COVID-19

York-based Integumen is set to play a significant role in curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta GroupDr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group
Dr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group

The company has announced progress on its COVID-19 wastewater detection system, Microtox PD, in collaboration with Modern Water, Avacta Group and Aptamer Group.

The company has also announced the unveiling of a new personalised COVID-19 breath test, Microtox BT, and its complementary Digital Health Pass platform.

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Integumen is working with a consortium of companies which are collaborating to find solutions in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The consortium includes Modern Water, Avacta and Aptamer .

Gerry Brandon, CEO of Integumen, said: “Collaboration and cooperation are key to solving major societal problems like COVID-19.

“Together our collaboration brings extensive scientific expertise in each of our fields and the results of this strategy can be seen by our ability to rapidly bring effective solutions in the fight against this global pandemic.”

He added: “The company believes that to enable the economy to re-open fully, the public are going to have to take the responsibility of testing against this virus, themselves.

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"By providing an instant real-time breath test with a digital reader platform, and combined with appropriately priced products, we can drive a consumer-led duty of care for personal COVID-19 responsibility.

"The current infrastructure for testing of this virus is groaning under the pressure and we believe that whilst PCR and Antigen tests are crucial to the diagnosis of coronavirus, we believe that Microtox BT and the Digital Health Pass will enable businesses and the public themselves to triage those with infections, creating safer environments with the potential to limit self-isolation to only those that need to.

"This pandemic has changed our lives for the foreseeable future and together we can find ways to create a new normality.”

Dr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group plc commented: "Affimer reagents are ideal for applications such as this, not only because of their sensitivity and specificity, but also because of their robustness which is essential when being deployed in real-world real-time situation analysis.

"I look forward to seeing the results of the planned evaluations of the Affimer-based wastewater and breath analysis systems in due course.”

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