Sorrento’s COVID-19 test appears to be superior to competing diagnostics, and it just made a good acquisition, while its overall strategy is sound.
Sorrento has produced a coronavirus test which is expected to be approved and then become widely used in the U.S. and potentially around the world. The company requested emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration for its COVI-TRACK diagnostic test, which detects novel coronavirus antibodies. It also plans to file for an EUA for COVI-TRACE, a rapid salivary diagnostic test licensed from Columbia University.
Sorrento has been even more active in developing potential treatments for COVID-19. The biotech filed for FDA approval earlier this month to begin a phase 1 study of antibody therapy STI-1499 (COVI-GUARD) in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients. It hopes to quickly advance the candidate through clinical testing and perhaps even receive an EUA for STI-1499 as soon as the end of 2020.
Sorrento’s coronavirus test yields results in just 30 minutes, does not require lab equipment and doesn’t have to be sent to labs. As a result, it, unlike other tests, could be used by hospitals, stadiums, hotels, office buildings and other organizations to allow people to safely enter their facilities on the same day that the test is taken.
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