Newsroom

May 15, 2020

Episode 22: Interviews Lotti Bluemner CEO | Joe Cotela Lead Singer of DED | Mehdi Maghsoodnia CEO of Vitagene

Mehdi Maghsoodnia is the Chairman and CEO of Vitagene. He joined the company in February 2016. Maghsoodnia brings over 20 years of experience in executive management roles at both public and private companies and has deep expertise in building technology companies in new markets. Prior to Vitagene, Maghsoodnia held a number of executive positions including CEO of Rafter, SVP of CafePress, Intellisync (Acquired by Nokia), and Actiance. Maghsoodnia is also an active angel investor and board member in several early-stage startups including SpineZone, MedCorder, Turncare, Swiftly, and StrongDM. Maghsoodnia received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and has done graduate-level studies in computer science at Stanford University.

Read more in The GenX Perspective Podcast

May 13, 2020

Companies ramping up at-home saliva tests for coronavirus are banking on ‘endless’ demand

A handful of U.S. health care companies are banking on massive demand for coronavirus tests and an easing of federal rules as they prepare for a major production blitz that could bring at-home saliva test kits to millions of Americans in the coming months.

Read more in ABC News

May 13, 2020

An easier coronavirus test is within spitting distance

Andrew Brooks, a Rutgers University molecular neuroscientist, remembers clearly having a long nasopharyngeal swab stuck up his nose in search of evidence of a virus. “It was terrible,” he recalls. “It felt like someone was poking the front of my brain.”

Read more in Washington Post

May 10, 2020

5 things to know about the home coronavirus saliva test developed at Rutgers

With the much-heralded Rutgers University saliva test for the coronavirus garnering the Food and Drug Administration’s blessing late Thursday, people can now collect their own test samples at home and send them out to be processed.

Read more in NJ.com

May 9, 2020

Vitagene Launches The First FDA Authorized Saliva based “Zero Contact” COVID-19 At Home Test

Vitagene Raises $7 Million Of Additional Funding To Provide Widespread Testing to Consumers

Read more in Business Wire

May 9, 2020

FDA authorizes the first at-home Covid-19 saliva test

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency use authorization for the first at-home Covid-19 test that uses saliva samples.

Read more in CNN

May 8, 2020

Can I get a coronavirus test at home or not?

The FDA authorized an at-home spit test for the coronavirus, but the future of rapid at-home tests isn’t here yet.

Read more in Vox

May 8, 2020

F.D.A. Clears First Home Saliva Test for Coronavirus

The Food and Drug Administration is permitting a Rutgers lab to start selling spit-collection kits to detect the coronavirus.

Read more in New York Times

May 8, 2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes First Diagnostic Test Using At-Home Collection of Saliva Specimens

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first diagnostic test with the option of using home-collected saliva samples for COVID-19 testing. Specifically, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory for their COVID-19 laboratory developed test (LDT), which had been previously added to the high complexity molecular-based LDT “umbrella” EUA, to permit testing of samples self-collected by patients at home using the Spectrum Solutions LLC SDNA-1000 Saliva Collection Device. This announcement builds on last month’s EUA for the first diagnostic test with a home-collection option, which uses a sample collected from the patient’s nose with a nasal swab and saline.

Read more in FDA

April 24, 2020

Saliva samples preferable to deep nasal swabs for testing COVID-19

As testing for the novel coronavirus continues to scale up, a new study finds that saliva samples are a “preferable” indicator for infection than the deep nasal swabs now widely used.

Read more in Yale News

April 21, 2020

How to get tested for coronavirus at home: FDA authorizes first home test kit

The FDA has authorized the first at-home test kit, which will be available in every state in the coming weeks.

Read more in CNET

April 16, 2020

1Health.io launches self-collection kits for Covid-19 diagnosis

Health platform 1Health.io has launched telehealth supervised self-collection kits for Covid-19 diagnosis in collaboration with its lab partners.

Read more in Verdict Medical Devices

April 15, 2020

1Health.io Launches the First COVID-19 TeleHealth Supervised Self Collection Kit; 50,000 Test Kits Will Ship Immediately Ramping Up To 300,000 Kits Monthly by May

The test will use saliva spit kits manufactured in the U.S., relieving strain on the supply of nasal swabs in U.S. hospitals

Read more in Business Wire