by adjusting the chemicals to target different genes, lem believed his cube could identify any number of pathogens or genetic quirks that would be useful for doctors and patients to know. like most ambitious entrepreneurs, lem had an audacious end goal — he wanted to move dna testing from the professional lab to the home. under the terms of that federal government contract the price of the cube was to drop to $4,000 by last summer. lem expected a further decline to $2,000 by yearend assuming a redesign.
“our ultimate goal is to get this to the several hundred dollar mark,” lem told mps that day in may, “so no one will have to think twice about purchasing one of these things.”
he likened the cube to a keurig coffee machine. “once you have the device, it can run different pods,” he said.
the covid-19 test was to be another pod. it proved not to be that simple.
competitive challenges
the story of spartan is not over. under new management, it re-designed its swabs and other aspects of the test kit, conducted a clinical trial and, in january, once again received health canada’s stamp of approval.
but the delays have proved costly and its moment may have passed.
while spartan was racing to revalidate its technology, dozens of firms worldwide achieved regulatory approval for portable, rapid-testing technology.
they were also pushing the technology ahead. in december health canada approved kits developed by competitors roche diagnostics and cepheid that tested for both covid-19
and
flu.