T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO) shares are soaring on Tuesday after the company confirmed that its T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel, a molecular diagnostic test that detects SARS-CoV-2, can identify multiple variants of the coronavirus recently found in the UK, South Africa, and the US.
“As new strains of the COVID-19 virus emerge, it is critical that we ensure our technology continues to be an effective diagnostic solution during the ongoing pandemic,” commented T2 Biosystems’ President and CEO, John Sperzel.
“I’m proud that we can confidently say, after extensive analysis, that our T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel, which has demonstrated clinical sensitivity of 95 per cent and specificity of 100 per cent, can continue to help impact lives by detecting multiple variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” added Sperzel.
The two variants first detected in the UK, and South Africa are highly contagious and caused multiple countries to ban travellers from the two countries.
To confirm that the T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel would detect these variants and other potential mutations of SARS-CoV-2 viruses, T2 performed in silico analysis using genome sequences available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information nucleotide database and GISAID database.
The T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel provides results in under two hours using an upper respiratory swab sample.
T2's share price is up 36.25% at $2.18 premarket.