STONY BROOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied DNA Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (“Applied DNA” or the “Company”) today announced the signing of an Agreement with Stony Brook University Hospital (the “Hospital”) to validate and implement the Company’s patent-pending nucleic acid diagnostic (LineaCOVID-19™) to detect and quantify in diagnostic samples the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19. Validation is expected to begin immediately with results to be used to support the Company’s application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the end of April 2020 for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
“Built upon our work to develop COVID-19 vaccine candidates, we believe we have developed a high-sensitivity, high-throughput diagnostic that is urgently needed to meet the mass testing requirements of not just New York State, but also across the U.S. and the world. Working together with a local partner that is world-class medical institution, we are now at the final step of our diagnostic kit development program before moving to seek Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA,” stated Dr. James Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA. “We are very encouraged by our internal testing results to-date. We aligned 74 variants of the S-gene sequence currently available in the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) database. This gene is highly conserved, being close to 100% (99.97%) identical across variants; meaning that detection via our diagnostic kit should be consistent even against the capacity for this virus to mutate.”
Dr. Mohan Chellani, Director of Diagnostic Regulatory Affairs at Applied DNA and a 30-year veteran of the RNA-based molecular diagnostics industry, stated, “We are pleased to be donating state-of-the-art robotics and diagnostic devices and integrating them into the Hospital’s facilities with the objective of yielding throughputs of more than 500 patient samples per 8-hour shift, with expected enhanced sensitivity and fewer false negatives. Our scientists and the Hospital are collaborating closely to dramatically increase throughput and sensitivity to better protect first responders and patients, and to enable comprehensive testing to the residents of Long Island.”
Yuhua Sun, Director of Applied Genomics at Applied DNA, and one of the developers of the assay, stated, “By teaming with our neighboring world-class hospital, we have mobilized with great speed, not only in development of the diagnostic, but in the continued exploration of viral loads in novel fluids and tissue samples to learn more about the course of this disease and the potential to improve diagnostics and therapeutics.”
The Agreement calls for Applied DNA to permanently contribute equipment to the Hospital who will act as third-party validator of the Company’s LineaCOVID-19 diagnostic, and for the Company to sell diagnostics kits to the Hospital once the EUA has been granted by FDA. Two forms of the diagnostic kit will be available to the market, a “Basic Kit” designed for high-volume labs that can provide some of the bulk ingredients usually found in large reserves at labs routinely processing thousands of patient samples per day, and a “Premium Kit” for labs that need everything at their fingertips. In addition, the Company is working with its vendors to provide a fully integrated monobloc platform that will allow certified testing organizations to install turnkey operations in a single order.
The Company plans to manufacture the positive controls (that confirm the test is operating properly) using its LinearDNA™ platform used recently to deliver quantities of five candidate linear DNA vaccines designed by its development partner in Italy, Takis Biotech. The LineaCOVID-19 diagnostic leverages the Company’s established knowhow regarding the Spike protein that is abundant on the surface of the virus. The Company believes the abundance of messenger RNA encoding for Spike is one of the factors that enhance the sensitivity of the assay. A provisional patent application has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) protecting the concepts on which the assay is based.
Applied DNA makes clear that while the Company expects to file an EUA with the U.S. FDA by the end of the month, the U.S. FDA has not yet approved the Company’s diagnostic and there is no guarantee that any EUA will be approved.
About Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.
Applied DNA is a provider of molecular technologies that enable supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping, diagnostics and pre-clinical nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug candidates.
LinearDNA™ is a trademark of Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.
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The Company’s common stock is listed on NASDAQ under ticker symbol ‘APDN’, and its publicly traded warrants are listed on OTC under ticker symbol ‘APPDW’.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Applied DNA’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Applied DNA. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to the possibility of a failure to make timely payment on its outstanding secured convertible notes and resulting enforcement by noteholders of remedies on collateral which includes substantially all of Applied DNA’s assets, its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including whether any of Applied DNA’s or its partners diagnostic or therapeutic candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process, including receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, the unknown outcome of any applications to U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and various other factors detailed from time to time in Applied DNA’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 12, 2019 and our subsequent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on February 6, 2020, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov. Applied DNA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
