PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:PSID), in conjunction with its development partner RECEPTORS LLC (“Receptors”), announced today that it has successfully completed Phase I development of its rapid virus detection system, a non-invasive, point-of-care test to test patient samples and identify various forms of influenza within minutes. Phase II of the development, which the Company expects to complete by the end of 2010, is planned to launch in February 2010.
“Methods of Making Arrays and Artificial Receptors”
In Phase I development of the virus detection system, which utilizes PositiveID’s exclusively licensed Receptors’ CARA™ (Combinatorial Artificial Receptor Array) platform, the company successfully achieved proof-of-concept. CARA support and complementary competitor agents were developed to detect the presence of influenza in a model nasal wash matrix. The fluorescently labeled competitor agents compete for binding to the CARA support surface. When competitor agents are displaced from the CARA surface by virus, a fluorescent signal is produced. Model nasal wash samples that contain influenza are distinguished from samples that do not contain influenza.