Sherlock Biosciences’ 221b Foundation Enables Global Access to COVID-19 Diagnostics with Up To 10 Million Tests Per Month
Multiple Partnerships Ensure Point-of-care and High-throughput CRISPR COVID-19 Diagnostic Kits at Global Scale
Boston, United States:
The 221b Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by Sherlock Biosciences to address the global COVID-19 pandemic while promoting diverse representation in STEM, today announced that its partnerships will increase COVID-19 diagnostic manufacturing capacity by up to 10 million tests per month by year-end. Through multiple license agreements this year with organizations including ALBOT Technologies, Cooper International, LogicInk, Rokline, United PPE and binx health, The 221b Foundation has enabled manufacturing and global distribution in the U.S., United Arab Emirates, India and Singapore, and is in discussions to expand beyond these geographies to increase access for vital diagnostic solutions around the world.
The 221b Foundation was founded to aid in the fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic by enabling access to intellectual property associated with the company’s SHERLOCK™ CRISPR-based technology. Proceeds from third-party sales of SHERLOCK CRISPR COVID-19 products have supported programs that promote racial and gender diversity in STEM, including HMS MEDscience, Scratch and The Akilah Institute.
“As the world mobilized to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, our mission obligated us to be part of the global solution. The 221b Foundation is one of our most important responses – an open innovation model to provide our comprehensive CRISPR IP estate to expedite the end of the pandemic,” said Rahul Dhanda, co-founder, president and CEO of Sherlock Biosciences. “Since launching the Foundation, we have enabled a variety of use cases from point-of-care to strategic testing centers in the country of Nepal to highly automated clinical environments. We are honored to be meeting this global need while creating pathways for programs that support gender and racial diversity in STEM, a vital step to ensure our industry reflects the communities it serves around the world.”
Since receiving Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2020 for its Sherlock™ CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit – the first FDA-authorized use of CRISPR technology – The 221b Foundation has continued to increase access to the technology through partnerships around the world.
“Since launching The 221b Foundation, we have continued to advance the platform workflow to provide a high-throughput, low cost and incredibly accurate solution to patients worldwide, while advancing the field of CRISPR diagnostics with innovations building on our discovery of new Cas enzymes to enable fully integrated, real-time multiplex testing,” said William J. Blake, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, Sherlock Biosciences. “Our and our partners’ assays are highly effective at detecting new, highly transmissible COVID-19 variants, making them a powerful solution to this global public health crisis.”
To learn more about licensing opportunities or our CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 method, contact us directly at [email protected] or read our White Paper here.
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