ProtonDx’s Dragonfly Diagnostic System Successfully Deployed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games

5-in-1 Respiratory Test Panel used to assess elite athletes

LONDON, UK, August 31, 2022 / B3C newswire / -- Today, ProtonDx, a health technology company developing robust, point-of-need diagnostic solutions, announced that Dragonfly™, its portable, rapid diagnostic system, formed a key part of the diagnostic testing portfolio used by Team Scotland during the 2022 Commonwealth Games¹ in Birmingham, UK.

Testing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games provided insight into respiratory infections that might have affected individual performance and helped identify any impact on other athletes who might have potentially been exposed. It helped provide ‘peace of mind’ to athletes and coaches in the run-up to, and during, the Games. Team Scotland’s request to use the system was a direct result of the highly positive experience, earlier this year, of Dragonfly’s use by Team GB at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games held in Beijing, China.

Using proprietary ultra‑fast nucleic acid extraction, and isothermal colourimetric detection, the system achieves PCR-equivalent sensitivity and specificity in less than 30 minutes from sample to result. The 5-in-1 Respiratory Test Panel detects severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), Influenza A Virus (IAV), Influenza B Virus (IBV), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Human Rhinovirus (HRV) in a single test.

Dr Niall Elliott, Chief Medical Officer, Team Scotland, said: “It has taken years of intense training and focused preparation for Scotland’s best athletes to compete in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the largest Games ever held. It was of the utmost importance that my team and I were able to ensure our athletes were in top condition and free of several critical respiratory viruses. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has made us more attuned to how vital it is to be able to quickly assess athletes’ health using a system that is highly portable and can test for multiple viruses in parallel. With the successful use of Dragonfly in Beijing, we approached ProtonDx about using this diagnostic tool during the Commonwealth Games. We appreciate our strong relationships and coordinated efforts with Team GB and ProtonDx, and value the innovative Dragonfly technology.”

Bob Enck, Chairman and President of ProtonDx, stated: “Dragonfly’s successful deployment in elite sports is a testament to the reliability, ease-of-use, and portability of the system that we saw during its use by Team GB at the Olympic Winter Games. Team Scotland wanted to access the independent infectious disease detection and testing capability that Dragonfly offers. Dragonfly is a potential game-changer in the diagnostics industry - providing quick, cost-effective, and confident results, irrespective of location. With its demonstrated value at major international sporting events, the interest in Dragonfly throughout the sporting world and other key industries is rapidly expanding across Europe.”

In June 2022, ProtonDx, announced that it had received a CE‑IVD mark for its innovative Dragonfly multi-pathogen detection diagnostic system. The robust, accurate system is poised to help revolutionise rapid infectious disease diagnosis and tracking worldwide.

1 Also known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and Birmingham 2022.

About ProtonDx
ProtonDx Ltd was founded in 2020 by Professor Pantelis Georgiou (CEO), Assistant Professor Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano (CSO), and Dr Nicolas Moser (CTO), of Imperial College London to deliver ultra-rapid, extremely precise, molecular testing for everyone at the point-of-need to facilitate detection of infectious pathogens worldwide.
Its core technology builds on a decade of innovative research in diagnostics and collaboration between engineering, medicine and molecular biology carried out at Imperial College London by a dedicated multidisciplinary team. ProtonDx team’s ambition is to ensure tests can be conducted quickly, accurately and cost-effectively, wherever and whenever they are needed.

About Dragonfly™
Dragonfly™ is a <30 minutes sample-to-result in vitro diagnostic test, based on isothermal LAMP technology, intended for the extraction and qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA as a single target and combined with the extraction and detection of Influenza A virus, Influenza B virus, human respiratory syncytial virus and human rhinovirus in a multiplex panel from a nasopharyngeal, nasal, throat, and buccal samples. It is intended to aid in triage of COVID-19, influenza type A, influenza type B, RSV and HRV, in samples from people regardless of gender or age, with or without signs and symptoms suggestive of infection. The Dragonfly system consists of hardware, software, and associated panel(s) for the detection of specific pathogen(s). A Dragonfly Starter Kit contains all materials and accessories required to perform the assay in a self-contained kit that includes, controls, reagents, and instructions for use. Dragonfly is intended for use by an appropriately trained user and is not intended for self-testing.
The Dragonfly system is CE-marked and complies with the European In Vitro Diagnostic Devices Directive (IVDD 98/79/EC) and is commercially available only in countries accepting a CE-IVD registration. Not available in the USA.

Further information: www.protondx.com

Contact

Dr Lynne Trowbridge / Dr Priya Kalia
sciTribe
priya@scitribe.life
+44 7703 769 299

Keywords: Humans; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human; Influenza A virus; Influenza B virus; SARS-CoV-2; Rhinovirus; COVID-19; Nucleic Acids; DNA; RNA; Colorimetry; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Communicable Diseases; Biomedical Technology; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Delivery of Health Care; Technology; Athletes; Scotland; United Kingdom

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