Satio has received a contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development of a new single-use and patch-based ebolavirus diagnostic.

BARDA is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The new rapid diagnostic will integrate the patch-based blood collection device of Satio with the Institut Pasteur de Dakar's sensitive ebolavirus immunoassay within a single device.

For quickly detecting and treating infected individuals, community health workers can use the new sensitive test in remote settings.

With financial support from BARDA's Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe), Satio will speed up the creation of the integrated blood collection and diagnostic platform.

This platform's capabilities can later be extended to identify other significant blood-borne pathogens such as syphilis and HIV.

Satio will collaborate with consumer diagnostics company Sapphiros to make sure that the platform technology remains affordable and available to low and middle-income countries.

Together, they will produce the diagnostic using Sapphiros' extreme volume manufacturing process.

Satio executive chairman and founder Namal Nawana said: “Satio’s patch-based blood draw, diagnostic and drug delivery platforms are designed to transform workflow in healthcare.

“This partnership between BARDA DRIVe, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Sapphiros, and Satio allows us to develop low-cost, high-performance diagnostics to respond rapidly to biosecurity threats, such as ebolavirus.”

To facilitate a diverse range of lab-based testing, the company is developing a set of patch-based platforms, which comprise SatioDraw for whole blood collection and SatioDot for dried blood spots.

Utilising a lancet, these platforms collect blood from the upper arm into the patch.