Menon Announces Advancement of Trials on Rapid COVID-19 Test at the University of California San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Menon Biosensors, Inc. ("Menon" or the "Company"), a distributive technology portfolio company, announced today that trials will advance on its proprietary Molecular Mirror™ platform technology in collaboration with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine ("UC San Diego") hoping to prove accuracy and feasibility as a rapid assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 ("COVID-19") virus in patient specimens.

The advancement comes after scientists at UC San Diego's Clinical Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, led by David Pride, MD PhD, and Menon successfully completed on-site preliminary trials on over 200 samples. The trials showed that combining Molecular Mirror™ technology with a standard magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") machine or benchtop magnetic resonance instrument could create a rapid output testing process for detection of the COVID-19 virus, which would be capable of testing upward of 100,000 samples per hour if proven and deployed.

The trial will be done on 1,000 samples where COVID-19 has been previously proven present or not using other approved tests. Using standard MRI machines found in almost every hospital in America, UC San Diego will scan the samples using the Molecular Mirror™ platform and compare the results with the existing data.

Molecular Mirror™ is a diagnostic platform proprietary to the Company, which was classified by the US Government until 2012, that detects bacterial and viral pathogens. While it has not been used to detect COVID-19 previously, the technology is adaptable to detect the presence of any bacterial or viral pathogen. UC San Diego and the Company have agreed to explore the technology and test its accuracy in hopes of finding a more realistic solution to ongoing, mass testing needed to control the spread of COVID-19. If proven successful, UC San Diego looks to implement the process across its healthcare facilities and to screen University students as part of its "Return to Learn" campaign.

"The goal of the trial is to unequivocally prove that our Molecular Mirror technology could be the solution to the global need for high volume testing in order to curve the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Suresh Menon, Founder and President of Menon. "While our internal tests have proven the concept, we need to prove that under controlled conditions our technology can be quickly adapted to any virus or disease and implemented using standard equipment across the world for rapid detection of these pathogens."

The Molecular Mirror™ assay achieves high sensitivity and specificity using magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with target-specific biomarkers that bind to specific regions of a pathogen's genome. The sample, bound with nanoparticles, is then processed to produce a change in its magnetic properties, specifically the "spin-spin relaxation time." This produces a signal that can be isolated by magnetic resonance-based equipment leading to the detection of pathogens such as COVID-19.

"If successful in this trial, we will have the highest output testing procedure known to the world and in effect, be able to test the entire population multiple times a week, at a fraction of the expense of other testing methods," said Dr. Menon. "This is a really exciting development for our team and all those combating this current and even future pandemics."

For more information about Menon, please visit us at www.menonbiosensors.com.

About Menon Biosensors, Inc.
Menon Biosensors, Inc., a subsidiary of Menon International, Inc., is a molecular biochemistry company that provides DNA analysis for the diagnosis of biological pathogens. Menon Biosensors' Molecular Mirror™ NMR-based platform technology (classified by the U.S. Government until 2012) provides superior sensitivity and specificity, and minimizes sample preparation, providing best in class sample-to-answer pathogen detection. The technology has been validated by respected Universities and diagnostic companies.

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SOURCE Menon Biosensors, Inc.