U-Smell-It LLC Honored in Global $6M XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing Competition

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Guilford, CT, USA company recognized for innovative olfactory test

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Mar 16, 2021, 09:00 ET

GUILFORD, Conn., March 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Smell-It™ LLC, a Guilford-based company specializing in innovative COVID detection techniques, has announced that it has won the $6M XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, a global effort to develop breakthrough COVID testing methods.

XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing is a $6 million, six-month competition to develop faster, cheaper, and easier-to-use COVID-19 testing methods at scale.

Chosen from more than 700 international companies, the XPRIZE judges awarded U-Smell-It™ the award based on scalability, ease of use, and cost.

"This award is an honor," said Dr. Derek Toomre, Yale University School of Medicine professor and founder of U-Smell-It™. "But the real honor will come when this test helps keep people healthy, helps keep schools open, and enables economies to thrive."

U-Smell-It™ holds multiple patents, CE Certification (for use in the EU) and has filed for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the FDA.

The U-Smell-It™ test detects deficiencies in the sense of smell - a common symptom of COVID-19. The test involves a test card with five scent areas, such as banana and mint. Results are ready in 45 seconds. According to company data, U-Smell-It™ can produce 100 million tests per day per location, with an end cost of 50 cents per test. Its efficacy has been proven in multiple clinical trials.

U-Smell-It™ has also pledged that for every individual test purchased, another test will be donated to an area in need.

"We can manufacture our product anywhere, from the U.S. to Finland to Malaysia," said Kimmo Piironen, CEO of U-Smell-It™. "Local distribution can be handled by mail. And our cloud-based spatial mapping reporting system functions in real time, so corporations and government health agencies have a fast and easy way to monitor potential COVID-19 infections. This is a solution made for a specific challenge."

"We are thrilled to announce the winners of the XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, which awarded multiple winners with unique testing solutions to help prevent future supply chain problems," said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. "We started this journey to ensure communities across the globe have access to fast, affordable, and easy-to-use COVID-19 tests. We are grateful to have the best entrepreneurial and scientific teams on board to help bring their solutions to scale so we can properly reopen schools, businesses, and other vital institutions around the world."

www.xprize.org/prizes/covidtesting

www.usmellit.com Press contact: [email protected]

XPRIZE is a global future-positive movement of over 1M people and rising, delivering truly radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. XPRIZE inspires and empowers a global community of problem-solvers to positively impact our world by crowdsourcing solutions through large-scale competitions, tackling the world's grandest challenges in exploration, environment, and human equity. Active competitions include the $100 Million XPRIZE Carbon Removal with Elon Musk, $20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, $15 Million XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, $10 Million XPRIZE Rainforest, $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, $6 Million XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing, $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling and $500,000 Pandemic Response Challenge. Donate, sign up or join a team at xprize.org.