Ichor Blood Services Expands In-Home COVID-19 Antibody Testing Amid High Demand
Ichor Blood Services currently offers bookings in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto, with immediate plans to expand into Fort McMurray, Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat
CALGARY, AB, July 14, 2020 /CNW/ - Ichor Blood Services, an Alberta-borne, private mobile lab collection service company, announced today its plans to immediately expand its service offering to Fort McMurray, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge. The company gives people the opportunity to pay out of pocket for COVID-19 Antibody serology testing completed through their partner StageZero Life Sciences. StageZero operates a CLIA certified high complexity lab in Richmond, Virginia and is performing COVID-19 testing using FDA EUA approved tests.
"Antibody testing is an important complement to active virus testing to identify the portion of the population that may have already been exposed to the virus," said Mike Kuzmickas, Founder and CEO, Ichor. "Ichor Blood Services is pleased to be working with StageZero to offer private antibody testing that gives individuals peace of mind, and employers a better-defined back to work plan."
When a blood sample is collected and sent to StageZero in Virginia, the BTNX Rapid Response test is initially run. Negative antibody results are reported from this initial test with +99% certainty, and the results are provided to the patient or employer through a secure online portal. If the initial test shows a positive on the IgG antibody, a second confirmatory test is run using the Beckman Coulter Access test, which if positive will validate the presence of antibodies with a Positive Predictive Value of 99%.
"What is interesting so far is that more than 30% of our positive antibody test results in Alberta have come from asymptomatic patients," said Kuzmickas. "This means the number of active COVID-19 cases is likely higher than currently known. Antibody testing can provide a significant and important source of data to help our health care leaders plan for the future."
Ichor's COVID-19 antibody testing service requires Ichor's standard $75 + GST home visit collection fee, with the cost of the antibody test itself at $120 + GST per person. A family of 4 having test collections done at the same time at the same place would cost $555 + GST.
About Ichor Blood Services
Ichor Blood Services is an Alberta-borne, private, mobile lab collection service that offers Alberta residents the opportunity to pay out of pocket to have blood and urine samples taken in the comfort and safety of their own home.
The service relieves the burden on public labs and collection sites and provides an option to those that may not qualify for existing publicly funded mobile care collection programs to access the same level of convenience and high-quality care. Ichor's services also provide an option for those who may be immunocompromised, mobile impaired, or are simply too busy to wait at a public lab facility.
While currently they are only able to provide mobile blood and urine sample collection services to patients of Copeman Healthcare, they are in the process of negotiating collection agreements with public labs to be able to bring this service to all Albertans.
For more information visit: ichorblood.ca
SOURCE Ichor Blood Services
Media Contact: Peter Pilarski, Vice-President, CIPR Communications, P: 403.462.1160, E: [email protected]
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