Pharma expert and Dragon’s Den star Chanelle McCoy has revealed plans to launch a 10-minute finger prick test for Covid-19 which could revolutionise the battle against the pandemic.
Speaking on the ‘Science of Business’ podcast McCoy who is the founder of McCoy Health spoke of her new business venture which would allow people to see if they have Covid antibodies with the quick test.
Quick turnaround antibody testing could be a major help in allowing businesses, sporting events and travel to operate as normal.
Speaking on the new test McCoy said: “They have 100% accuracy in terms of testing if you have an anti body which means you had to have been infected with Covid for you body to produce and anti body.
“We have done a lot of due diligence on these kits. They’re FDA approved by the states and we are sourcing them from a US company. They are used widely across a lot of countries, Japan, South Africa, Australia and Sweden.”
McCoy added that the test will be partnered with an app called a “V health passport” where if anitbodies are identified a ‘green status’ will be given and will last for 3 to 4 weeks.
And McCoy believes a passport system could allow people attend sporting events or return to their offices for work.
She added however: “This is not the silver bullet because this test will not pick up if you are infected with Covid between day one and day three, it will pick up if you’re infected with Covid from day four onwards.
“This is about identifiying the people with anti-bodies in Ireland in the UK and getting their V Health passport green and getting them back into Landsdowne road, Leopardstown racecourse and back into the office.
It will be available in Ireland from Thursday, October 1.
