Applied DNA Adds First Summer Camp for safeCircle Pooled COVID-19 Surveillance Testing
Applied DNA Sciences (NASDAQ: APDN) announced a contract with Camp Chateaugay for its safeCircle™ pooled COVID-19 surveillance testing. This contract emphasizes the company's focus on COVID-19 testing in niche markets, supporting the reopening of summer camps while minimizing virus spread. Testing will be conducted prior to and during the camp sessions using PCR technology, offering results within 24 hours. The success of this initiative could enhance Applied DNA's market presence in the public health sector as schools and camps seek reliable testing solutions.
- Acquisition of a COVID-19 testing contract with Camp Chateaugay enhances market reach.
- safeCircle™ testing aligns with the reopening of summer camps, addressing health guidelines.
- Dependence on continuous demand for COVID-19 testing, which may fluctuate.
- No specific financial metrics provided to gauge the contract's immediate impact.
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (Applied DNA or the “Company”), a leader in Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based DNA manufacturing, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Applied DNA Clinical Labs, LLC (ADCL), has secured a safeCircle™ pooled COVID-19 surveillance testing contract with Camp Chateaugay, an overnight summer camp program for teens and kids based in New York’s Adirondack Mountain region. The acquisition of safeCircle’s newest client reflects the service’s focus on profitable niche markets for COVID-19 testing and the re-opening of venues for sales opportunities in which routine COVID-19 pooled surveillance testing would lower the risk of virus spread as vaccinated and under-vaccinated populations come into close contact.
Pooled surveillance testing of all campers will be conducted prior to the start of each of two summer sessions and once on-site. Samples will be collected via anterior nasal swabs that offer ease-of-use for all ages. Aggregate testing results will be reported to the director of the summer camp via safeCircle’s integration with CLEARED4, the Company’s pooled surveillance testing program partner, through CLEARED4’s smartphone-based online health safety management and reporting solution. Testing will be conducted from mid-June through end-July.
Camp Chateaugay Director Mitch Goldman, stated, “This year, camp administrators are being called upon to navigate local, state, and Federal health guidelines, as well as best practices established by camp associations, in implementing COVID-19 safety protocols as part of camps’ reopening and continuing operations strategies. In safeCircle, we have a partner who can help us navigate these complex waters while giving us the surety of a PCR-based COVID-19 test.”
Mike Munzer, executive director of Diagnostic Sales at Applied DNA, stated, “The pandemic disrupted what is an annual ritual for our youth, but as restrictions are relaxed, we are heartened to see summer camps re-open having put in place a thoughtful and layered approach to maintaining healthy environments and operations that is grounded in COVID-19 testing. safeCircle’s high-touch pooled surveillance testing service that is backstopped by our highly sensitive, highly specific PCR test can offer camp administrators, staff, campers, and parents greater peace of mind this summer.”
About safeCircle™
ADCL’s pooled surveillance testing program, known as safeCircle™, utilizes frequent, high-sensitivity pooled testing to help prevent virus spread by quickly identifying infections within a community, school, or workplace. safeCircle provides 24-hour results using real-time PCR (RT-PCR) testing.
Click through to learn more about how safeCircle can help your community, school, and workplace: safeCircle
About the Linea™ COVID-19 Assay Kit and Pooled Surveillance Testing
The Linea™ COVID-19 Assay Kit is a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory specimens including anterior nasal swabs, self-collected at a healthcare location or collected by a healthcare worker, and nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs, mid-turbinate nasal swabs, nasopharyngeal washes/aspirates or nasal aspirates, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens collected by a healthcare worker from individuals who are suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider (HCP). The test is also intended for use with anterior nasal swab specimens that are self-collected in the presence of an HCP from individuals without symptoms or other reasons to suspect COVID-19 when tested at least weekly and with no more than 168 hours between serially collected specimens.
The scope of the Linea™ COVID-19 Assay Kit EUA, as amended, is expressly limited to use consistent with the Instructions for Use by authorized laboratories, certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) to perform high complexity tests. The EUA will be effective until the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 is terminated or until the EUA’s prior termination or revocation. The diagnostic kit has not been FDA cleared or approved, and the EUA’s limited authorization is only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens.
The Company is offering pooled surveillance testing in compliance with current CDC, FDA, and CMS guidances. The use of saliva and pooled sampling for surveillance testing, which has been internally validated by the Company in compliance with current surveillance testing guidances, is not included in the Company’s EUA-authorization for the Linea™ COVID-19 Assay Kit.
About Applied DNA Sciences
Applied DNA is commercializing LinearDNA™, its proprietary, large-scale polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”)-based manufacturing platform that allows for the large-scale production of specific DNA sequences.
The LinearDNA platform has utility in the nucleic acid-based in vitro diagnostics and preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development and manufacturing market. The platform is used to manufacture DNA for customers as components of in vitro diagnostic tests and for preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development in the fields of adoptive cell therapies (CAR T and TCR therapies), DNA vaccines (anti-viral and cancer), RNA therapies, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based therapies, and gene therapies. Applied DNA has also established a COVID-19 diagnostic and testing offering that is in the early stages of commercialization and is grounded in the Company’s deep expertise in DNA.
The LinearDNA platform also has non-biologic applications, such as supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology. Key end-markets include Gov/Mil, textiles, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, and cannabis, among others.
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The Company’s common stock is listed on NASDAQ under ticker symbol ‘APDN,’ and its publicly traded warrants are listed on OTC under ticker symbol ‘APPDW.’
Applied DNA is a member of the Russell Microcap® Index.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Applied DNA’s future plans, projections, strategies, and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Applied DNA. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, the possibility that the assay kit could become obsolete or have its utility diminished, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including whether any of Applied DNA’s or its partner’s diagnostic candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process, including receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, the unknown outcome of any applications or requests to U.S. FDA, equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and/or the New York State Department of Health, the unknown limited duration of any Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from U.S. FDA, changes in guidance promulgated by the CDC, U.S. FDA and/or CMS relating to COVID-19 surveillance and diagnostic testing, disruptions in the supply of raw materials and supplies, and various other factors detailed from time to time in Applied DNA’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 17, 2020, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 11, 2021 and May 13, 2021, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov. Applied DNA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
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FAQ
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