A tech expert involved in creating the Covid tracer app is trying to import and trial a new type of rapid antigen test that could be as accurate as PCRs.
New Zealand experts say it could provide cheap, quick, accurate testing with far fewer false negatives - but getting PASPORT across the border isn't proving straightforward.
The new test from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore looks like a regular RAT test and can still be done at home in 15 minutes, assessing saliva instead of a nasal swab.
The new test uses saliva instead of a nasal swab. (File pic) Photo: Unsplash / Annie Spratt
Professors who carried out an early clinical study at Duke-NUS found it 97 percent sensitive - much higher than the current tests being used in New Zealand which modeller and principal investigator at Te Pūnaha Matatini Emily Harvey said have blind spots, sometimes unable to pick up early stage infections.
"You can miss a lot of people that way. The other thing is these antigen tests are just much less sensitive than PCRs so they will have false negatives, so you will miss infections with them," she explained.
Tech developer Alan Chew said the results of the early PASPORT trials blew him away.
He first heard about the tests, which use "amplified parallel" technology, when New Zealanders were grappling with long waits for their PCR results.
They're also cheap, he said: PCRs also cost up to $200 each - and the new LAMP test is an estimated $60-80 each - while the PASPORT kits are priced similarly to regular RATs, at about $10 each.
The developers have also created an automated machine that will read the results, and dispose of the tests, designed for installation in places like airports.
"It solves all those problems at once... it's more than positive, it's transformational," Chew said.
It's not the first time he has presented an idea to the Ministry of Health.
Earlier, he dreamt up the idea of QR scanning for contact tracing, and made the prototype of the Covid Tracer App.
But he said it had been slow going to get PASPORT to New Zealand, even just for trials.
"There has been a lot of red tape. Some of that is needed, because you're dealing with a product that's going to affect the lives of a lot of people. But I think we're in a period of emergency ... still are," he said.
The Ministry of Health has approved 17 types of RATs so far, but said people wanting to import a new type need to go through an "evaluation process".
It said the threshold for importing RATs is high in New Zealand, because it looks at the clinical performance of the product, including if it is at least 80 percent accurate in trials.
Tech developer Alan Chew said the results of the early PASPORT trials blew him away. Photo: Supplied
Frustration for importers
President of NZ's Institute of Medical Laboratory Science Terry Taylor said many importers had felt frustrated with those rules.
"That is just one of those nightmares that importers have had over the past... more than a year. The Ministry's been very guarded over what it allows into the country," he said.
"It's a double edged sword in a way because if you opened it up as a free-for-all for everything, you're going to get a lot of rubbish coming into the country... but the tests now are much better."
Terry Taylor says Covid-19 tests are a lot more accurate now. Photo: Supplied
Experts here said they were cautiously optimistic about the PASPORT test, but wider trials were needed.
Modeller Dion O'Neale said it would be important to know it works on all populations and doesn't return false positives from previous infections.
"Almost certainly there'll be some situations where a test with increased sensitivity is useful. But there will be some situations where it might be less useful. You'd want to make sure you're using it in the situation that's appropriate, that has the most impact," he said.
"That might mean using it at the border but not test-to-release."
Chief scientist for PASPORT Weijie Poh said it had progressed beyond trials in Singapore and has now been licensed.
"We are actually in the process of doing the commercial production of the kits, right now, and repeating the clinical validation that we've done, with those commercial kits," he said.
Alan Chew said if he can bring the PASPORT test into the country and prove its performance, he would first want to make it available to airlines, whose staff are among the most in need of quick, accurate tests.
After that, he said he would want to talk to the government about making it available to the rest of the population.
