The money from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense will enable San Diego, Calif.-based Cue to manufacture 100,000 COVID-19 test kits per day by March 2021, including 6 million ordered by the federal government.
The Cue COVID-19 test is a molecular test that detects the ribonucleic acid (RNA) of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in about 20 minutes using a nasal swab sample taken from the lower part of the nose. The test runs on the company’s proprietary testing system, which can be used for analysis of nasal specimens at the point of care. Results are transmitted to the Cue Health smartphone app.
Cue Health announced in June that its COVID-19 test had received emergency authorization from the FDA. The company has financial support from Johnson & Johnson and raised $100 million in a Series C round in June. HHS previously awarded the company contracts totaling more than $30 million to accelerate the development of its influenza and COVID-19 tests.
