They plan to produce over 1 Million per week
Apart from protective & respiratory equipment, patient testing swabs also play a crucial role in the identification of COVID-19 patients and the flattening of the curve. The only thing is that, the more patients are tested, the more such equipment is missing.
To cope with the lack of Covid-19 testing capacity, Resolution Medical has launched the Resolution Medical Lattice Swab, Crafted with Carbon™ Technology. For those who do not know, Resolution Medical is an FDA registered, in vitro diagnostic and medical device manufacturer.
Manufactured using Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ (DLS™) technology and KeySplint Soft® Clear material for Carbon printers from Keystone® Industries, the Lattice Swab is classified by the FDA as a Class I 510(k) Exempt in vitro diagnostic medical device.
A first batch of 3D printed nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 testing is currently being used by healthcare organizations. The hollow structure of the lattice is designed for specimen collection efficiency, with a geometry that is also flexible to promote functionality and comfort for patients. The product is now undergoing clinical evaluation by clinicians at multiple institutions, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and Stanford Medicine.
The swabs, which are biocompatible and autoclavable, are currently printed hundreds at a time with a unique serialization present on each strip to facilitate traceability.
“Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Carbon’s engineers and material scientists quickly sprung to action to identify the KeySplint Soft® Clear material as having the right balance of properties to make a soft, flexible swab with appropriate strength that could be printed with precision using the Carbon M2 at 75 micron pixels,” said Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Carbon. “Resolution Medical, our production partner since 2018, has been amazing in leading the effort to launch the product.”
In developing, testing, and refining the Lattice Swabs, the team collaborated with a coalition of researchers led by clinical pathologist Ramy Arnaout, MD, PhD, associate director of the clinical microbiology laboratories at BIDMC and assistant professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. His group performed clinical assessments of the swabs based on design, materials testing, usability, and a variety of human factors; collection sufficiency of biological samples; and PCR compatibility using their in-house commercial COVID-19 test. Leading an open and public process, Dr. Arnaout’s group tested and provided feedback on over 160 designs, materials, and prototypes from over a dozen manufacturers, resulting in a decision to launch an ongoing clinical trial of the Lattice Swabs.
“Resolving the national shortage of nasopharyngeal testing swabs is critical to the global fight against COVID-19,” Dr. Arnaout said. “We have brought together a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, academics, and industry partners in a shared effort to resolve this crisis and have begun a clinical trial of Lattice Swabs and other prototypes here at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.”
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