iSpecimen® marshalling novel coronavirus specimens to front lines of research

LEXINGTON, Mass., April 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- iSpecimen today announced it is deeply engaged in the battle against COVID-19, supporting researchers who are working on urgently needed vaccines, tests and treatments for the deadly viral disease.

The novel coronavirus is one of the highest priorities of medicine today, and iSpecimen's immediate response is integral to the company's long-term mission. For eight years, the company has advanced medical progress by connecting researchers with the human biospecimens and data they need to perform their work.

Through iSpecimen, COVID-19 researchers are procuring:

• Remnant nasopharyngeal swabs from individuals who have been tested for COVID-19 via a gene-based PCR test, including positive and negative specimens. Thousands of these samples are available through iSpecimen's clinical lab partners.
• Prospective, custom research collections of blood, urine and/or other samples from patients with an active case of COVID-19 or who have recovered from the disease. These patients have a prime opportunity to give back to the health care system by donating samples for research through iSpecimen directly or through iSpecimen's health care system partners around the country.
• Remnant serum and plasma samples collected from patients with a known COVID-19 test result performed on a nasopharyngeal swab, either collected concurrently with the swab or at a selectable time period—days or even weeks – after the swab test.

iSpecimen is currently wait listing requests for the following:

• Remnant serum samples that have been tested serologically for COVID-19 antibodies, whether the outcome was positive or negative.

'Fight of a lifetime'

Many of the samples iSpecimen is managing will be used for the development of serology tests that detect coronavirus antibodies to indicate whether a person previously had the disease. These tests will be critical to understanding the prevalence rate of COVID-19 and whether we've reached "herd immunity." Serology tests will also help determine which individuals can return to normal work and social life. Recovered patients are presumed to be resistant to reinfection.

"COVID-19 is the fight of a lifetime, and researchers urgently need specimens," said iSpecimen Founder and CEO Christopher Ianelli, MD, PhD. "Every day that we can help researchers by making it easier for them to get research samples is a day sooner that life can return to normal for all of us. We'll keep working to re-arm researchers on the front lines of discovery."

Samples are available with a full complement of compliant, de-identified patient and specimen data such as patient age, gender, ethnicity, race, and test results. For prospective, custom research collections, additional data such as comorbidities, medications, procedures and outcomes are available. Healthy, normal control samples are also available for all specimen types.

Specimens are collected under the oversight of an institutional review board (IRB), independent ethics committee (IEC) or other appropriate committee. 

For information on samples and data from COVID-19 patients, contact iSpecimen or view their selection of current COVID-19 samples online.

About iSpecimen
Headquartered in Lexington, MA, iSpecimen is the marketplace for human biospecimens, providing researchers with the specimens they need from the patients they want. The privately held company has developed the iSpecimen Marketplace, an online platform connecting healthcare organizations that have access to patients and specimens with the scientists who need them. Proprietary, cloud-based technology enables researchers to intuitively search for specimens and patients across a federated partner network of hospitals, labs, biobanks, blood centers, and other healthcare organizations. Researchers easily and compliantly gain access to specimens to drive scientific discovery. Partner sites gain an opportunity to contribute to biomedical discovery as well as their bottom line. Ultimately, healthcare advances for all. For more information about iSpecimen, please visit www.ispecimen.com.

SOURCE iSpecimen

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http://www.ispecimen.com