Here’s how L.A.’s Curative Plans to Move Saliva-Based COVID-19 Testing to Other U.S. Cities
May 04 2020
Fred Turner, the 25-year-old founder of Curative Inc., is the man behind L.A.'s push to bring universal testing to the region. But, he has bigger plans.
Turner, an Oxford dropout, just landed a deal with the Air Force to test military worldwide and he's now eyeing national expansion for his startup. By the end of this month, the company he started months ago is expected to pump out more than a million test kits a week.
"We are a strange company because our goal is to essentially put ourselves out of business," Turner said.
<p>Turner, who was named UK Young Engineer of the Year at age 17 when he built a DNA machine from his bedroom to figure out why his brother had red hair and he had brown hair, turned his focus to coronavirus in January. He upended his life as head of Shield Bio, which sought to eliminate sepsis, and moved to Southern California after a local venture capitalist connected him with a lab that he could build out for COVID-19 testing. </p><p>Curative Inc. was born. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE4NjM5Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTkyMDg3Mn0.Fy0dtjHfIsqIXJAOI7MUohie11857cWDACI3OksmLt4/image.jpg?width=980" id="515a2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ee43a7a9c8e7ea09bd6cdb251d45ace" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Curative, Inc. Founder Fred Turner is the man behind L.A.'s push to bring universal testing to the region.
<p>For weeks he lived in hotels as he created what has become the backbone of testing in America's second largest city. The company, one of the few saliva-based tests that have gotten emergency approvals from the FDA, has a 10% false negative rate, according to their own non-peer reviewed studies. Turner argues the rate is better than most of the nasal swab testing out there and oral tests, which can be self-administered, are the only way the country can reopen quickly.</p><p>He is now operating two labs, one in San Dimas another in Washington D.C., with plans for several more across the nation. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is watching to see if Los Angeles' promise of universal testing meets the expectations with some already complaining about the difficulty of securing an appointment.</p>
<p><strong>dot.LA: Curative is responsible for 95% of Los Angeles COVID-19 tests. Can you meet the demand for universal testing?</strong><br/></p><p><strong>Curative, Inc. Founder Fred Turner:</strong> We will be able to fulfill demand. There's more infrastructure that needs to be put in place. With the collection site, the mayor's office has been working hard to scale those up and make sure that the collection site infrastructure is in place. On the lab side, we definitely have enough capacity to serve the area.</p><p>In (the San Dimas) lab we have capacity for about 20,000 per day. We're going to be scaling this lab up to 30,000 over the next week or so, eventually, probably slightly more than that. </p><p>Ultimately, the goal is to do as many tests as we need to reopen the country and I think we've had many different estimates of how many that might be. I've heard estimates (that it will take) as high as five million tests a day to reopen, but the current supply chain is nowhere near going to be able to keep up with that. The next goal we are shooting for is a million tests a week by about mid-May, end of May.</p><p><strong>If we're testing more people will that strain the turnaround time? Right now, I understand it's about 24 to 72 hours. Can you take it down to several hours or even minutes?</strong></p><p>We are always aiming to push it down. I think it can be pushed under 24 hours, but we tend to focus more on scaling it up at that point. I think 24 hours is around optimal as you bring on more capacity. We're obviously being careful to match the capacity coming into the lab against the turnaround. </p><p><strong>Curative is one of the few companies that the FDA has provided emergency approval for use of a saliva test. Do you think this is the answer to universal testing nationally?</strong> </p><p>Oral fluids is the technical term, which is slightly different from saliva. Our protocol involves having the person cough first, which releases virus from the upper and lower respiratory tract. Some of that is then caught in the saliva, and also viruses in the saliva. The idea is you're effectively sampling multiple sites at once, which we think gives a slight increase in the sensitivity of the testing.</p><p>Self-collected sampling has got to be the way forward. There's just no way that we can do a million nasal pharyngeal swabs, or we call them 'brain swabs,' it's just not practical. We don't have the medical staff, and as a country we just can't do that many swabs. And so the way forward is going to be self collection. That's the only thing we can do at scale.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="93ba4781c410d06eb2cfed59cce147a8"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LNopEE7lC6E?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Covid-19 Oral Fluid Test Kit Instructions</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNopEE7lC6E&feature=emb_title" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p><strong>Curative recently secured a contract with the Department of Defense. What's next?</strong><br/></p><p>We haven't settled on the exact number, but we will be in a large number of states. That is the plan, building out the infrastructure for this kind of testing. We can take the L.A. model and scale it across the country. We have a version of the drive-thru software that other cities and states can take. We have all the training material. We have a team that fly around the country setting up these drive-thru sites. We have really tried to make a plug-and-play package where cities and states that want to launch drive-thru testing, we have everything they need. </p><p><strong>Is Los Angeles a testing ground and a proving ground for national efforts?</strong></p><p>Yeah, I think Mayor Garcetti has definitely demonstrated what can be done if the city moves very quickly to build out the infrastructure, I do think the drive-thru testing, walk through testing is going to be an essential component of this.</p><p>It's just much faster to get the samples to the lab than shipping it out and then shipping it back again. The infrastructure piece is critical for getting these tests out there and we're working with several other states now on building out a similar infrastructure. Some of them have existing programs that we would be plugging into and expanding, and some of them are looking to roll out their own similar programs. You can test a lot more people with the oral tests with far fewer staff.</p><p><strong>What are the challenges with the supply chain in terms of making your tests more widely available?</strong></p><p>We need more plastic, more robots, more people. Most of the components that go into these tests are just already maxed out in their production capacity. And so we've been throwing online a bunch of internal production, such as injection molding to make our swab kit tubes, as well as bringing on other sources of similar materials that are not being used for COVID-19 testing and validating them for COVID. So for the swabs, for example, we use a swab type that is usually used for testing clean rooms. It works just as well for COVID testing, but nobody else is using it for that purpose. </p><p>We don't want to be competing with other people, stopping them from getting access to resources. We want to bring on new supply so it's not a zero- sum game, and the total amount of tests will increase. But, I think distribution is going to be a bigger bottleneck over the next month. Los Angeles has done a fantastic job in building out infrastructure and collection. That needs to happen now across the whole country. </p><p><strong>What would it take to meet national demand?</strong></p><p>It would take a network of multiple labs that we are calling gigalabs that can process 50,000 to 100,000 tests a day across the country and a significant scale up in the production of the physical components that go into the tests. We've been investigating lab sites in a few states, something central like Texas or Colorado. </p><p><strong>Are you concerned that you have too high of a false negative rate at 10%?</strong></p><p>All COVID tests will have false negative rates. In our studies, we demonstrated that the sensitivity is at least as good if not better than the nasal pharyngeal swab tests. So, there will definitely be false negatives as there will be in every test, but we think the data supports us having a low rate of false negatives. The sensitivity is about 90%.</p><p>When you include all patients, the nasal pharyngeal came in at about 79%. A new (non-peer reviewed) Yale study shows a higher sensitivity from saliva and all fluids than the nasal pharyngeal. I don't think we have the evidence to say that we're better yet, but we have the evidence to say that we're at least equivalent. The ease of doing oral tests and the accessibility is obviously significantly better. We're not using PPE. We're not exposing healthcare workers. It's just a much easier test to roll out that people can test themselves.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Florida_National_Guard_%2849677710741%29.jpg" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGd2lraXBlZGlhJTJGY29tbW9ucyUyRmYlMkZmOSUyRkZsb3JpZGFfTmF0aW9uYWxfR3VhcmRfJTI4NDk2Nzc3MTA3NDElMjkuanBnJmhvPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGdXBsb2FkLndpa2ltZWRpYS5vcmcmcz0yNzMmaD1hZDI1NWIwOTNkYWE5ODBjMzU4NjMzYWM0YmE2OGYwYmYxZGRlMGNmYjFlNjdjNDhlMjQxZTZkZDZjZDE3YzNhJnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTEzMDE3NDMyMjYiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjE0NzExNjkyfQ.BvjB0Zw5cLoqqcX5ba4uhPBwCzyao_4h0HSdTdD7IEk/img.jpg" id="cbbc9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8965d4da3c9fec19960a954cded4abca" /></a>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">File:Florida National Guard (49677710741).jpg - Wikimedia Commons</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Florida_National_Guard_%2849677710741%29.jpg" target="_blank">upload.wikimedia.org</a>
</small>
</p><p><strong>At one point, Curative was attempting to roll out at-home testing and then had to pull back after FDA warnings. Will you be making home testing kits again?</strong><br/></p><p>I can't give a time estimate but we are actively working with the FDA right now. I think their concern is "can people adequately collect the sample, or will they do it wrong, and then get a negative test result," which is incorrect. Our plan is to use telemedicine observation. What we've seen in our clinical studies is that if you give people the chance to do it wrong, they will do it wrong. In fact when you have somebody observing, they read the instructions better and they collect a better sample. We're still working on the pricing and potentially looking at whether there is federal or state reimbursement for some of that testing and the potential of billing insurance. </p><p><strong>Tracing technology has been promising. Do you have any plans to tie tests to these applications to testing?</strong> </p><p>We've had several conversations with contact tracing apps and we continue to work in collaboration with public health departments in their contract tracing efforts. Having the test is obviously one thing, but you have to use the information to actually stem the tide of COVID infection. And so, it is an essential step in working closely with various people. </p><p>I do like the app-based models where you obviously want to maintain people's privacy, but having people opt-in to share their location history if they test positive so you can contact nearby people.</p><p><strong>What does Curative do once there's a vaccine? Are you obsolete?</strong></p><p><strong></strong>The U.S. needs to maintain some kind of spare capacity so that next time we are not having to build all of this during a pandemic. But we are a strange company because our goal is to essentially put ourselves out of business. Ultimately, and I say this to everyone we hire, we don't know how long this will go on for. We want to provide as many tests as needed, but the goal is to end COVID and not be doing COVID testing anymore.</p><p><strong>Curative took off in March when you arrived in Los Angeles from Silicon Valley, how has the journey been for you personally?</strong></p><p><strong></strong>I don't have very much free time, but it's been a lot of fun to be able to work at this pace and have the support of people like the city, the mayor's office to really just do what is needed to scale this up. When we work with suppliers, and we say we're doing COVID testing, they just move heaven and earth to make things happen. It's been really inspiring to be a part of that push forward.</p><p>We are just pushing as hard as we can to scale up as fast as we possibly can and bring on as much testing as we can. The city opening up testing to everybody is kind of a culmination of that. We're making about 50,000 kits a day right now and we want to make that as widely available as we can. I would like to get a little more sleep. </p><p><em>The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. </em></p><p><em>Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Curative's saliva tests have a 10% false positive rate. In actuality, the tests have a 10% false negative rate.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- coronavirus - dot.LA ›
- coronavirus-tests - dot.LA ›
- curative-inc - dot.LA ›
- Here's How Curative, Inc, Plans to Roll Out Coronavirus Testing to ... ›
- FDA Approves Curative Inc's COVID-19 Test - dot.LA ›
- How One Startup is Preparing for Coronavirus - dot.LA ›
- COVID-19 Test Kit-Maker Curative Inc.is Struggling to Ramp Up - dot ... ›
- How Curative Inc. Plans to Test the U.S. for Coronavirus - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
Coronavirus Updates: Virgin Orbit Gets OK on Ventilators, Curative Signs Pact With Air Force
Apr 23 2020
Here are the latest headlines regarding how the novel coronavirus is impacting the Los Angeles startup and tech communities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow dot.LA on Twitter for the latest updates.
Today:
- Curative signs pact With Air Force to deploy COVID-19 tests
- Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gets FDA approval on new ventilator design
- New report quantifies Q1 loss of L.A. filming days from COVID shutdown
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
New figures show COVID shutdown cut L.A. filming by 18% in Q1, set to free-fall
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE2MDUwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTA0NTIzMX0.v5JH2MyUeRF9YjsTt5epJ7mTRZ4efXQNZKfZ82848gE/image.jpg?width=980" id="6c751" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e7c0a699cf1ef11d2ba162ff31361111" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /> <p>A new report from Film LA released Thursday reveals that filming days in L.A. in the first quarter of this year were down 18% compared to the same period last year. That number will plummet next quarter due to a county-wide filming moratorium that began on March 20. </p><p>In its forecast for Q2, Film LA has assumed the earliest date that filming could resume is June 1st -- and even then, only for small projects that can adhere to social distancing. Even if this scenario occurs--which FilmLA VP of Communications Philip Sokoloski admitted is optimistic--analysts already forecast that the shooting days lost this year so far are unrecoverable.<br></p><p>The timing of the shutdown is particularly bad for pilot season, which typically runs from February through May. In Q1, television took the largest hit, seeing a 20.6% decline in filming days. Feature film shoots fell 6.9%, while commercial shoots fell 12.5%. Reality shows, however, did see a Q1 uptick, of 11.7%. </p>Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gets FDA approval on new ventilator design
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE1ODg5Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDM0NTAzMH0.HRm2gVp3zTyha5GfAHCUhVlZKw1RjhaeFStdMxuqzyk/image.jpg?width=980" id="dfd34" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1bd0568361fdf25d8e7f1c15efcdd190" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /> <p>Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin immediate delivery of a new "bridge" ventilator designed and built by the satellite launch company. The Long Beach-based space company was given clearance through the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization, and expects to begin delivering ventilators to hospitals within the next few days. </p><p>"Virgin Orbit has leveraged its extensive engineering design, manufacturing, and operational capabilities to quickly design a novel ventilator, test prototype units, and ramp up production of these devices," the company said in a statement. </p><p>The device has been funded entirely by Virgin Orbit, and is a simple ventilator that's driven by a windshield-wiper motor. Physicians believe it can be used as a stop-gap solution until patients are able to be put on a standard ventilator. </p>Curative signs pact With Air Force to deploy COVID-19 tests
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5Nzc5Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5Nzg5NTg2Mn0.2LovX5Ia-nKfKXWfEugd634OgIWe6nSOKsj_Mu8eoxQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="ea7d3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a1b61168d134747d273670bc08c7e070" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>COVID-19 testing startup Curative and aerospace accelerator Gothams have signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to deploy its <u><a href="https://dot.la/coronavirus-test-curative-inc-2645747239.html" target="_blank" title="FDA-a">FDA-a</a><a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=gQ9k5PtURAwBI-Yb8oAw7r0mW7c67kqqpfPE-O3u2I-y0_EG33pPZtUFv15pUKKylPUFqDtn9MgOzvMwlJbA9YgZZPc81f6Hs1KNZfXfEQMuGuI5GFFsUPRHms4XyZwnZ6n2SMrVeaBzJ5PP4NrMy30bSKJC3nHk62aHxCwcIPDRf01id742-9DuU_WoAX-PSWlKitB_f56RxwGdk2I1-CNe1Vt8Il4eYToxX-Q4Mm3o1FkQPMJ75I_JBrtqfYWt" target="_blank" title="uthorized oral fluid tests">uthorized oral fluid tests</a></u> and comprehensive testing service to military personnel around the world. </p><p>"Broad testing is critical to our nation's ability to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, maintain operational readiness and restart the American economy," the companies said in a statement. </p><p>In this initial agreement, Curative will rapidly establish a new laboratory facility, fully operational this week, which will process up to 50,000 tests per day for the presence of COVID-19. In future phases of this agreement, Curative will establish eight testing locations across the U.S. to support testing for the U.S. population.</p><p>Curative has processed 75,000 tests amounting to about 20% of those administered in California, according to a spokesperson for the company. </p><p>Turner set up shop in a San Dimas lab in March and became an unsung hero in the battle to combat coronavirus in Southern California when he turned the focus of his company, originally meant to detect sepsis, to the pandemic. As part of this agreement with the Air Force, each Curative lab will have a daily capacity to examine 50,000 tests per day. Currently Curative has the capacity to scale to a network of 10 labs across the country for a total of 500,000 tests per day.</p>From Your Site Articles
- Investors and Health Tech on the Front Lines of the Pandemic - dot.LA ›
- marsbio - dot.LA ›
- COVID-19 Test Kit-Maker Curative Inc.is Struggling to Ramp Up - dot ... ›
- curative-inc - dot.LA ›
- Coronavirus Test Kit Facility Aims to Produce 10K A Day in L.A. - dot ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
The Food and Drug Administration approved COVID-19 testing startup Curative Inc.'s saliva test for emergency use — opening up the door to larger-scale distribution.
The move by the federal agency provides a hopeful sign for the company which is working to develop mass at-home testing that could be used to help open up the country's economy.
<p>As of Friday, 3.5 million people have been tested in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But as officials from President Donald Trump on down look to jumpstart the national economy and lift stay-at-home orders, the availability of testing will need to be widespread, public health experts say. </p><p>Curative has processed 57,700 tests, nearly a quarter of all those administered in California, Curative founder <a href="https://twitter.com/FredTurnerBio/status/1251178507318652928" target="_blank">Fred Turner said on Twitter Friday</a>. Turner set up shop in a San Dimas lab last month and became an unsung hero in the battle to combat coronavirus in Southern California when he turned the focus of his company, originally meant to detect sepsis, to the pandemic.<br/></p><p>The tests take a little over a day to process and have been among the quickest turnarounds in the region. Curative is processing about 5,000 test results daily and producing 20,000 test kits a day. The test has been used since March 21, but with this approval, Curative can further ramp up production and distribute nationwide. </p><p>The saliva tests pose less risk to health care workers than the tests that require a nurse to swab inside a person's nose. The company has been testing first responders in Los Angeles County. </p><p>With this authorization, the company said, it was prepared to start working with new distributors including healthcare systems, states, and city governments. </p><p>Hospitals, grocery stores and warehouses are all struggling to figure out how to keep essential workers safe. More than 22 million people have filed for unemployment since the pandemic erupted in the United States and employers are struggling to figure out how to keep essential workers safe. </p><p><span></span>Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced this week it would begin shipping a new coronavirus blood test that can tell whether a person has ever been infected with hopes of ramping up to to produce 20 million tests a month by June.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Michael Milken Predicts We'll Soon Develop a Coronavirus Testing ... ›
- Coronavirus Test Kit Facility Aims to Produce 10K A Day in L.A. - dot ... ›
- Coronavirus Vaccines and Test Startups Are Being Supported by ... ›
- curative-inc - dot.LA ›
- Here's How Curative, Inc, Plans to Roll Out Coronavirus Testing to U.S. Cities - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less