Phosphorus Announces Partnership With Citizen App To Allow Individuals To Monitor COVID-19 Risks

NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Phosphorus, a leading genomics firm headquartered in New York City with a laboratory in New Jersey that has an FDA Emergency Use Authorization for in-home saliva-based COVID-19 testing, announced today that its tests are available on the Citizen App – an app that allows individuals to track symptoms, find testing sites and learn when they have been potentially exposed to the virus (terms and conditions apply).

The Citizen app, which includes SafePass, is available on iOS and Android.

When turned on and with Bluetooth activated, SafePass can monitor potential positive exposure, including exactly when and where someone was exposed. SafePass can also monitor if an individual has had significant contact with somebody who later tests positive for COVID-19. Over the next three months, individuals who are notified of possible exposures will be offered complimentary testing with Phosphorus.

Recognizing the importance of individual privacy,this is an opt-in service. No names or personal information are ever shared. Absolutely no information is ever made public. All data is destroyed from the app after 30 days.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Emergency Use Authorization request for Phosphorus' COVID-19 saliva test that features at-home sample collection. Using a saliva-based collection method is simple and less intrusive than the prevalent swab-based methods. This ease-of-use is a key characteristic to enabling the widespread and repetitive testing protocols proposed by experts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're proud to partner with Citizen on this important program to trace exposures and identify new cases as early as possible," Alex Bisignano, Phosphorus CEO and co-founder said. "We developed our COVID-19 test precisely to enable innovative solutions to contain the pandemic. Participation in the SafePass feature is an ideal use case for our at-home test."

Phosphorus testing protocols use strict standards to ensure accurate and reliable test results. Phosphorus is one of the first to have received Emergency Use Authorization to conduct a rigorous clinical agreement study above and beyond the synthetic sample performance study initially required by the FDA.

Phosphorus tests are also available to healthcare partners as well as to the general public by ordering online.

The company is in full compliance with FDA Guidelines for Diagnostic Tests for Coronavirus Disease-2019 during a Public Health Emergency and submitted validation data under the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority. The tests were developed at Phosphorus' CLIA laboratory in Secaucus, New Jersey. OraSure's Oragene®·Dx (OGD-510) saliva collection device proved to be a reliable method for test performance comparable to gold standard methods.

Phosphorus provides advanced genomic tests using next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to healthcare providers and hospitals. The Phosphorus laboratory is CLIA and CAP certified and licensed for testing in all 50 states. It has re-oriented its operations to focus on COVID-19 testing in order to bring its sensitive testing methodologies and extensive experience in genomics to this public health crisis.

Learn more about the Phosphorus COVID-19 Testing here.

About Phosphorus
Phosphorus's mission is to improve human health by better understanding and harnessing the power of the human genome. Having built the most comprehensive, high-quality, and cost-effective portfolio of genetic tests, Phosphorus is able to increase access and quality of care in the burgeoning field of genomics. The company currently provides panel-based, constitutional genetic testing in the specialty areas of Fertility, Cardiology, Lipidology, Oncology, Pharmacogenetics, Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Pediatric/Metabolic disorders. Phosphorus also offers the PhosphorusONE proactive health screen - the most comprehensive genomic test for taking a proactive look at your health. Additionally, Phosphorus provides the Elements™ software platform to enable any laboratory to easily deploy any of the Phosphorus genetic tests on-premise as a local solution. For more information, please visit our website at phosphorus.com.

SOURCE Phosphorus