Sherlock Biosciences has reported data from a 20 clinical sample pilot study conducted by Gregory J. Tsongalis, Ph.D., and his team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.

The study evaluated the accuracy and performance of the Sherlock™ CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for the detection of nucleic acid from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Sherlock test results were 100 percent concordant with results from Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test method.

The Sherlock CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 test kit is designed for use in laboratories certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), 42 U.S.C. §263a, to perform high complexity tests.

The kit, for which Sherlock Biosciences recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is based on the SHERLOCK method, which stands for Specific High sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unLOCKing.

The Sherlock CRISPR collateral detection reaction identified SARS-CoV-2 across a range of viral loads with high accuracy in previously tested patient samples.