COVID-19: Softbank opens PCR testing center: 2000 yen each time is OK
COVID-19: Inspection Center
New Coronavirus Testing Center, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group
A PCR test for the new coronavirus will be carried out once for 2000 yen.
Currently, the general inspection cost is 20,000-40,000 yen at a time.
It’s a low price of less than 1/10.
Takara Bio Test Kit:
The test kit used is a product of Takara Bio <4974>, which secures 1 million doses.
What kind of test kit can be made so cheap?
Also, what is the mechanism that realized low-priced inspection using this kit?
Takara Bio Products: Functions
The Takara Bio test kit was released on May 1, 2020.
The test result was found in about an hour,
Easy to use saliva as a sample,
Rapid PCR test for new coronavirus.
Tested with saliva:
Conventionally, a method of collecting a sample from the back of the nose or throat of a subject has been adopted for the PCR test of the new coronavirus.
By testing with saliva, it is possible to reduce the physical burden on the subject and the risk of infection to medical staff due to sneezing and coughing at the time of collection.
PCR processing is 50 minutes:
The PCR process can be performed in about 50 minutes.
Inspection time including pretreatment time is greatly reduced.
The price of the inspection kit is 120,000 yen for 100 times.
The cost per session will be 1200 yen.
M & A Online
https://maonline.jp/articles/softbank_pcr_coron20200926
The inspection fee is 2,000 yen each time, and only the actual cost is borne.
Full-scale operation of “Tokyo PCR Inspection Center”
Softbank news
https://www.softbank.jp/sbnews/entry/20200925_02
New products from Takara Bio Extractionless, multiplexed SARS-CoV-2 detection from crude saliva
Direct One-Step RT-qPCR Mix for SARS-CoV-2 Skip the RNA extraction step
—A streamlined workflow for unpurified saliva samples Get results quickly
—Less than one hour from pretreatment through detection Detect low copy numbers
—High sensitivity for accurate detection of the viral genome