May 8, 2020 / By Kayla Rivas | Fox News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a rapid diagnostic, gene-editing tool in detecting the coronavirus.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based engineering biology company, Sherlock Biosciences, developed a “CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit” to detect the virus in about one hour.
“While it has only been a little over a year since the launch of Sherlock Biosciences, today we have made history with the very first FDA-authorized use of CRISPR technology, which will be used to rapidly identify the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Rahul Dhanda, co-founder, president and CEO of Sherlock Biosciences, in a company statement. “We are committed to providing this initial wave of testing kits to physicians, laboratory experts and researchers worldwide to enable them to assist frontline workers leading the charge against this pandemic.”