The army has decided to invest 1.8 million euros for the development by a French company of a rapid screening test for Covid-19, announced the ministry of the Armed Forces on Tuesday, welcoming the second project of this type in A few days. The Defense Innovation Agency (AID) of the armed forces launched a call for projects which received 1050 proposals and designated the Ile-de-France SME BforCure " to develop a mobile, modular and connected automaton " capable of detecting coronavirus infection in less than 30 minutes. , said the statement.
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The funding covers " the development, testing and qualification phases for obtaining a first prototype, expected within 6 months ". The “ Nomorecov ” project aims to develop reliable screening on the sampling site, without using a centralized laboratory. It will also be usable for detecting the virus in suspension in the air or on surfaces, a dimension which particularly interests hospitals.
The solution will be validated by the virology laboratory at Saint-Louis hospital (AP-HP) and then industrialized to be ready for mass production, the same source said. Recently, AID had already invested 1 million euros to allow the Breton company NG Biotech to work on a rapid blood test.