Autonomous Medical Devices Incorporated (AMDI) has been awarded Phase 1 funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program in support of its RT-PCR point-of-care system.

The initial award of $1.2M has the potential for Phase 2 funding pending the successful completion of Phase 1. The RADx Tech award is funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and will help AMDI to support the continued development and validation of its novel molecular system as it moves toward product commercialization.

Originally launched in April 2020, the NIH RADx Tech program was created to speed innovation in the development of COVID tests by providing funding and access to technical, regulatory, clinical, and commercial experts. In September 2022, another round of funding up to $300 million was announced to improve the performance of over-the-counter (OTC) and point-of-care (POC) COVID tests with a focus on universal design features to ensure ease of use, decrease the need for serial testing, and account for future variants. Products for this round must be ready for commercialization within 12-36 months.

AMDI’s RT-PCR POC system provides a 10-minute sample-to-result of up to 32 individual target sequences without the need for a separate, offline sample preparation.

“We designed the AMDI ultrafast system to deliver highly sensitive, lab quality results with the accessibility needed to address the testing needs of both the current and future pandemics,” says Regis Peytavi, VP of Molecular Systems.

This project has been funded in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

“We are grateful to receive this recognition and funding from the NIH and RADx Tech program. We feel this proprietary new product will allow public health officials to respond quickly to new variants and provide patients and their providers access to fast, high-quality molecular results,” says David Okrongly, CEO of AMDI.