ITHACA — Cayuga Health is working with Rheonix Inc. to provide same-day turnaround for COVID-19 test results. The organizations announced their partnership April 30, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (or FDA) had granted Rheonix emergency use authorization for its Rheonix COVID-19TM MDx assay. The “rapid” sample-to-answer test enables the “fully automated” […]
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ITHACA — Cayuga Health is working with Rheonix Inc. to provide same-day turnaround for COVID-19 test results.
The organizations announced their partnership April 30, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (or FDA) had granted Rheonix emergency use authorization for its Rheonix COVID-19TM MDx assay.
The “rapid” sample-to-answer test enables the “fully automated” detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly from respiratory samples.
“An assay is a test that runs on a piece of equipment,” says Brooke Schwartz, VP of strategy and marketing at Rheonix. She spoke with CNYBJ on May 4.
The test is designed to operate on the Rheonix Encompass MDx workstation and will facilitate same-day results at distributed testing locations.
“We are thrilled to team with Rheonix, located right here in Ithaca. Their technology and expertise [have] enabled us to be able to provide same-day results for COVID-19 testing — one of the quickest turnaround times in our region,” Martin Stallone, president and CEO of Cayuga Health, said in a statement. “We were successful with opening one of the first COVID-19 [drive-thru] sampling centers in our state and will continue to do what it takes to fight this epidemic and meet the health-care needs of our community, right here.”
“As soon as it became evident that COVID-19 was going to be an issue in the U.S., we started talking about whether it was something that we could develop and it became apparent that we could and that a large volume of diagnostic tests were going to be needed to combat this pandemic,” says Schwartz.
Rheonix is a molecular diagnostics company that develops test methods for use in life-science research, food safety, and clinical testing, says Schwartz. The firm currently has about 65 employees.
In addition to its headquarters in Cornell University’s Business and Technology Park, Rheonix also operates a small facility in Grand Island, near Buffalo. It also has remote employees around the country, according to Schwartz.
Rheonix says it seeks to address unmet needs for “rapid, sensitive and specific” molecular testing across a variety of markets. This idea led to the invention of the Rheonix CARD cartridge and Encompass family of workstations, which it described as “fully automated, highly versatile and easy-to-use” testing systems.
Greg Galvin of Ithaca founded the business and serves as its president, CEO, and chairman of its board of directors.
“I am incredibly happy to be able to support Cayuga Health — Rheonix’s hometown health system — with their fight against this COVID-19 pandemic by giving them the ability to provide same-day test results to their patients,” Galvin said.
Rheonix knew that Cayuga Medical Center was having “significant turnaround time challenges” because it had to send the tests out to a laboratory outside Tompkins County to get the testing done, and its patients were getting results back in two to three days later or even longer.
“They needed a system that had the appropriate throughput for the type of hospital that they are, which is a medium-sized hospital to address the patient-testing burden that they were facing, and it was pretty clear that ours was a very good fit and because we’re local, it was easy to have those conversations quickly,” says Schwartz.
Testing site
The Cayuga Health/Tompkins County Sampling Center, which opened March 24, is available for drive-thru testing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. A new website with online registration is available at www.cayugahealth.org for patients to review the screening criteria and pre-register before their arrival, “allowing greater efficiencies with patient volume and decreased wait times,” Cayuga Health said.
In addition, a call center has been set up for patients who may not have access to Internet, need assistance registering, or have questions. The call center number is (607) 319-5708. People are “strongly encouraged” to pre-register prior to coming to the site.
The sampling center is located in portable structures at The Shops at Ithaca Mall parking lot in Lansing and is staffed by Cayuga Health employees. Screening includes obtaining respiratory samples, which are then sent to the Cayuga Health Laboratory for results.