With the Rise of COVID-19 cases, the Need for Comprehensive Diagnostics is More

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Rising Number of Cases Reinforces the Need for Comprehensive Diagnostics

Despite encouraging news from Moderna and Pfizer regarding the effectiveness of their vaccine candidates, it is still unclear when the pharmaceuticals will be ready to distribute the vaccines. In the meantime, the pandemic is expected to accelerate as winter approaches and the number of new cases is already rising sharply once again on the east coast. For example, in Massachusetts, new daily case numbers have crossed the 2,000 marks for the first time in six months. Virus-related hospitalizations have risen 46% since Sept. 23. The Boston Globe now reports that the mask mandate and limitations on gathering sizes ordered by Governor Baker could soon be followed by rolling back the state's reopening phases. Todos Medical Ltd, Moderna, Inc, Johnson & Johnson, BioNTech SE, Dynavax Technologies Corporation.

To properly combat the threat of the second wave and to avoid additional shut-downs, quality testing is among the top priorities for communities throughout the country. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday he should have been more vocal about the importance of testing. "It never became a reality because we never really had enough tests to do the tests that you had to do," Fauci said Tuesday, according to a report by STAT. "Community spread doesn't stop spontaneously unless you do something about it… It is easier to stop when the level is relatively low. The only way that you can get at community spread is that you need to test people who are without symptoms, in order to show what the degree of penetrance of infection is."

Yesterday Israeli in-vitro diagnostic company Todos Medical announced the completion of clinical validation and CLIA certification for MOTO+PARA's mobile lab. The Company's mobile CLIA lab partner, Integrated Health LLC, has fully validated the clinical performance of the proprietary COVID-19 RT-PCR laboratory testing process performed in MOTO+PARA's Mobile High Complexity Labs built to biosafety level 3 (BSL3) and has received the approval needed to begin offering COVID-19 screening and analysis as a service to clients anywhere in the United States. Rapid antigen and antibody testing also have been validated and are now ready to be deployed. MOTO+PARA is prepared to accept contracts from prospective clients immediately.

"We are thrilled to begin testing anywhere in the United States and worldwide with our first-of-their-kind mobile labs," said Eric Canonico, CEO of MOTOPARA Foundation. "With the recent surge of COVID-19 cases, the upcoming holidays predicted to further drive case counts, and the need to pair COVID-19 testing with other tests and emerging vaccination programs, our highly scalable mobile lab solutions are exactly what is needed to address the challenges COVID-19 has placed on existing testing infrastructure. MOTO+PARA is prepared to deploy rapid antigen and antibody tests in addition to diagnostic testing with our onsite RT-PCRs, which can turn results around in as little as 4 hours."

"We are confident that the validations we have completed and the systems we have implemented will enable high scalability for our mobile labs," said Jeff Faucheaux, CEO of Integrated Health. "Being able to bring these all-encompassing COVID-19 testing solutions directly to the people will improve the end-to-end testing experience for the patient. This allows us to significantly reduce turnaround times for PCR testing and improve the value of each test we provide because the results will be available more quickly than with traditional lab methodologies."

"The strategy of deploying all available testing solutions in the nation's first high complexity mobile labs allows us to assist MOTO+PARA in designing COVID-19 surveillance programs that will meet the diverse needs of different constituents who need access to testing for a myriad of use cases that have emerged since the pandemic began," said Gerald E. Commissiong, President & CEO of Todos Medical. "Whether it is making highly sensitive PCR testing available to government entities with turnaround times fast enough to dramatically reduce infection risk, screening fans before entering a stadium for sporting events, or supporting disaster relief efforts to ensure emergency responders are working in a COVID-free environment, we believe these mobile labs are the solution to many of the nation's testing challenges. This distribution channel will also allow us to rapidly commercialize emerging novel COVID-19 lab-based testing and monitoring technologies we expect to come to market in the months ahead."

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