SummerBio Expands COVID Testing Capabilities to Prepare for Endemic State, New Variants

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SummerBio LLC, a diagnostic company that provides affordable, high-quality, high-volume COVID-19 PCR testing, today announced that it is expanding its COVID-19 PCR testing capabilities and opening a new lab facility in Menlo Park.

The 28,589-square-foot facility is located at 185 Constitution Drive in Menlo Park. The new lab will double the company's testing volume and process 240,000 PCR tests per day, as well as have the flexibility to operate at warm capacity when fully operational in April 2022. It will house eight PCR automation cells and consolidate the CLIA lab, engineering and robotics, and R&D under one roof.

"What we have learned from the first two years of the pandemic is that COVID-19 is not going away and we must remain flexible and vigilant," said Dave Scheinman, Co-Founder and President of SummerBio. "Our new, automated lab will allow us to quickly scale PCR testing during times of surge, monitor new variants, and better meet the public health needs of our communities by putting the right safeguards in place regardless of where we are in the pandemic."

Since the start of the pandemic, SummerBio has been trusted by over 1,000 schools and corporations to provide timely and affordable COVID-19 PCR testing. According to Company clinical sample studies, SummerBio's SARS-CoV-2 PCR Test has been confirmed to detect the Omicron variants and is highly accurate with 100% diagnostic sensitivity, 100% diagnostic specificity, and a turnaround time (TAT) of >90% of samples in less than 24 hours.

"While we can't predict the future of the pandemic, we can do a better job preparing for it," said Sasha Seletsky, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of SummerBio. "SummerBio is prepared and ready to support California's SMARTER endemic plan through flexible, highly automated PCR testing that can maintain warm capacity with the ability to quickly scale at moment's notice during high testing demands and surges."

Maintaining warm capacity is increasingly important and provides the flexibility to prepare and respond to pandemics. Through highly automated testing processes, warm capacity allows labs to operate testing infrastructure at low volumes with lean staff, while providing the ability to rapidly scale up in the event of new variants or surges like Delta and Omicron.

About SummerBio
SummerBio is a diagnostics company committed to high-volume, affordable, and timely COVID-19 testing. To meet the needs of a pandemic, SummerBio streamlined the entire process of diagnostic testing including developing an automated identification recording system, a novel sample collection kit, state-of-the-art robotics, and automated liquid handling systems. The result is a dramatic increase in throughput and a significant decrease in cost compared to existing RT-PCR testing solutions—all while maintaining the highest quality possible. SummerBio was founded by life science automation industry veterans with decades of experience building and operating large-scale laboratory robotics, combined with world-class diagnostic molecular biologists, laboratory scientists, quality assurance, public health experts, software engineers, designers, and logistics and operations executives. SummerBio's lab is CLIA certified and CDPH (California Department of Public Health) approved. For more information, please visit the Company's website at https://www.summer.bio.

SOURCE SummerBio LLC