CRISPR-focused life sciences company Sherlock Biosciences, announced that its 20-sample pilot program to evaluate the company’s CRISPR SARS-C0V-2 test showed 100% concordance with results generated with results from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test method.

“We have been encouraged by results from the pilot study of Sherlock’s CRISPR-based test,” said Wahab Khan, Ph.D., assistant director of the Laboratory for Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, in a press release. “At a time when COVID-19 clinical diagnosis is in high demand – and often with limited resources – this approach highlights the value of mature, new technologies to provide valuable alternatives for the detection of not only COVID-19 but other emerging infectious diseases.”

Sherlock’s SARS-CoV-2 test kit has received Emergency use Authorization from the FDA and is designed for use in CLIA labs certified for performing high complexity tests. According to the company, its CRISPR collateral detection reaction identified SARS-CoV-2 across a range of viral loads with high accuracy in previously tested patient samples.

“Results from this pilot study have demonstrated – in real patient samples – that our CRISPR-based diagnostic test accurately reports the presence or absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said William J. Blake, chief technology officer of Sherlock Biosciences in a statement. “We are grateful for an independent assessment of our test by leading molecular diagnostic experts at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and look forward to announcing additional data from their ongoing study in the coming weeks.”