Simplexa^®
COVID-19 Direct Kit

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV).¹ The current outbreak of coronavirus disease was first reported from Wuhan, China in December 2019. After cases were identified in several countries, a global health emergency was declared with over 167,000 cases and thousands of deaths.²

Since its discovery in late 2019 in China, things have escalated rapidly in the U.S. On January 21, 2020 the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Washington state and only seven weeks later, the U.S. declared a National Emergency with over 4,000 confirmed cases.¹ Risk factors for severe illness are not yet clear, although older patients and those with chronic medical conditions may be at higher risk.¹ Testing methods for the SARS-CoV-2 are still developing and are highly complex. Current molecular methods involve significant specimen handling time and nucleic acid extraction methods.³ 

The Simplexa^® COVID-19 Direct kit allows for fast results directly from nasal swab, nasopharyngeal swab, nasal wash/aspirate, and BAL specimens, eliminating traditional RNA extraction steps. This enables faster turnaround times to help improve patient management and prevent further transmission of the disease.

The assay has demonstrated excellent clinical agreement and turnaround time, allowing for optimal allocation of critical resources and effective patient management decision making.^{4, 5}

To learn more about DiaSorin’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, visit https://diasoringroup.com/.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Coronavirus. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/index.html.
2. World Health Organization. (2020). WHO statement on cases of COVID-19 surpassing 100 000. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/07-03-2020-whostatement-on-cases-of-covid-19-surpassing-100-000.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Real-time RT-PCR panel for detection 2019-novel coronavirus. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/rt-pcr-detection-instructions.html.
4. Zhen, W., Manji, R., Smith, E., & Berry, G. (2020). Comparison of four molecular in vitro diagnostic assays for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Nasopharyngeal Specimens. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/04/24/JCM.00743-20
5. Bordi, L., Piralla, A., Lalle, E., Giardina, F., Colavita, F.,…, & Capobianchi, M. R. (2020). Rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA using the Simplexa™ COVID-19 Direct assay. Journal of Clinical Virology. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138665322030158X

An easy to use sample to answer system – no extraction and all-in-one reagents. Comprehensive sample coverage including nasal swab, nasopharyngeal swab, nasal wash/aspirate, and BAL specimens to work with any workflow.