Mirimus, Inc., a leader in conducting high-volume, high-quality PCR testing, today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed paper by EClinicalMedicine, an open access medical journal published by The Lancet. The paper, titled, "Implementation of a Pooled Surveillance Testing Program for Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections in K-12 Schools and Universities," highlights the use of Mirimus' pioneering SalivaClear pooled saliva-based COVID-19 testing platform by schools and universities as an effective, fast and affordable means to implement a weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing program.
The SalivaClear platform provides an efficient and affordable alternative to individual PCR testing. The technology combines saliva-based sampling, pooled testing and gold-standard PCR molecular diagnostics to enable frequent, high-quality, high-throughput detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. SalivaClear combines, or pools saliva samples from up to 24 individuals and then analyzes the pools in a single test to save time and cut costs.
The study, authored by Prem Premsrirut, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Mirimus, and researchers from institutions including SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Medstar Health Research Institute, Georgetown University, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the SalivaDirect team at the Yale School of Public Health, looked at data from the testing of 253,406 saliva samples collected during a 20-week span from August 2020 to January 2021 from students, faculty and staff at 93 K-12 schools and 19 universities. The study showed that schools that performed regular surveillance testing with SalivaClear were able to quickly identify COVID-19 hotspots before they became outbreaks, providing critical, real-time information that allowed school officials to adjust safety protocols and minimize transmission among students and faculty. As a result, all schools utilizing the SalivaClear testing platform in this study, remained open to in-person learning.
In addition, the study established that SalivaClear provided a similar sensitivity to the molecular assay of individual samples, in terms of both qualitative and quantitative measures. The data also demonstrated that pooling saliva samples substantially reduced the cost associated with PCR testing.
"Now, more than ever, this data validates our long-standing belief that saliva-based pooled testing should be a fundamental component for all schools and universities when students return to class in the autumn," stated Dr. Premsrirut. "Since we compiled the data for this study, vaccines have been developed and millions have been immunized against the virus. Still, COVID-19 remains a pernicious disease around the world. Routine testing will be crucial to resuming normal life, in particular the safe return of students to school and university classrooms in the autumn and for return-to-work."
Mirimus collected 237,164 individual saliva samples from students, faculty and staff at 93 K-12 schools and obtained 16,242 saliva samples from students, faculty and staff at 19 universities and colleges. The samples were condensed into 11,473 pools and tested using SalivaClear. Schools received the test results within 18-30 hours of sample collection, on average.
A total of 855 positive individual samples were detected using the SalivaClear platform, for a 0.3% individual positivity rate. Importantly, Mirimus detected significant spikes in the number positive samples in the days following long weekends and holidays, which tracks with overall COVID-19 positivity trends...
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