LEXINGTON, Mass., Nov. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iSpecimen
Inc. (Nasdaq: ISPC) ("iSpecimen" or the "Company"),
an online marketplace for human biospecimens, today announced that
it has been contracted to support new advanced research on COVID-19
seeking insights on its transmissibility, variants, outcomes, and
testing validity among multiple population segments. In the last
ten months, the company has partnered with multiple research and
health care organizations on a range of diverse projects requiring
a variety of COVID-19 samples, including nasal swabs, saliva, and
blood products.
The Company's work on COVID-19 began immediately after the
outbreak last year when it began sending serum samples to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help researchers
monitor antibody development for possible guidance on immunity.
iSpecimen provided the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
("CDC") with 600 SARS-CoV-2-positive serum samples and 100 negative
serum samples, mostly remnants from lab tests.
In addition, iSpecimen has been contracted by other federal
agencies and private companies for custom COVID-19 collections,
which are often complex and complement the more immediate
availability of remnant or banked samples.
"COVID-19 has claimed more than 5 million lives, and it will
require a lot of additional research to control the pandemic and
improve society's ability to contend with future outbreaks of
infectious diseases," said iSpecimen Founder and CEO,
Christopher Ianelli, MD, Ph.D. "We
embrace the challenge and are gratified that researchers are coming
to us for the specific biospecimens they need from the types of
patients they're focusing on."
COVID-Related Research
In addition to the work iSpecimen has done with the CDC,
iSpecimen has recently supplied hundreds of human biospecimens to
ongoing COVID-19 research being conducted by the United States military. The specimens,
including positive SARS-CoV-2 samples and negative controls, help
researchers validate COVID-19 testing platforms, understand
fluctuations in patients' antibody levels, monitor contagion among
close contacts, and more.
Another project organized by iSpecimen involves subjects who are
undergoing a COVID-19 test, along with their relatives, household
members, or other contacts with whom they interact. If any
additional subject develops COVID-like symptoms over the following
two weeks after the first subject was tested, the second subject
can schedule a follow-up blood collection for analysis.
In yet another project, blood samples are being collected from
symptomatic patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, with
many of those same patients returning two months later as part of a
longitudinal study of how their biology, including antibody levels,
have changed.
Samples are often collected across a range of geographies and
reflect a variety of ages, races, and ethnicities. In some cases,
samples are genetically sequenced to identify variants. In support
of research projects that require a stream of different sample
types from each research subject, as many as 21 specimens have been
collected and delivered from individuals in recruited cohorts,
including nasal swabs, oral swabs, saliva, and blood products in
various forms and quantities.
In related news, iSpecimen recently enlisted a new partner to
provide researchers with swabs and biofluid samples that have been
genetically sequenced and categorized by SARS-CoV-2 variant.
Access COVID-19 specimens at iSpecimen here.
About iSpecimen
iSpecimen offers an online marketplace
for human biospecimens, connecting life scientists in commercial
and non-profit organizations with healthcare providers that have
access to patients and specimens needed for medical discovery.
Proprietary, cloud-based technology enables scientists to
intuitively search for specimens and patients across a federated
partner network of hospitals, labs, biobanks, blood centers, and
other healthcare organizations. For more information about
iSpecimen, please visit www.ispecimen.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may
contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such
forward-looking statements are characterized by future or
conditional verbs such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend,"
"anticipate," believe," "estimate" and "continue" or similar words.
You should read statements that contain these words carefully
because they discuss future expectations and plans, which contain
projections of future results of operations or financial condition
or state other forward-looking information.
Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and
other statements about future events that are based on current
expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks
and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to
differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press
release, including but not limited to the risk factors contained in
the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
which are available for review at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date they are made. New risks and
uncertainties arise over time, and it is not possible for the
Company to predict those events or how they may affect the Company.
If a change to the events and circumstances reflected in the
Company's forward-looking statements occurs, the Company's
business, financial condition and operating results may vary
materially from those expressed in the Company's forward-looking
statements.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, and the Company assumes no obligation
and do not intend to update or revise these forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
For further information, please contact:
Investor Contact
KCSA Strategic Communications
Allison Soss
iSpecimen@kcsa.com
Media Contact
Kaitlynn
Cooney
For iSpecimen
kcooney@brodeur.com
617.587.2811
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SOURCE iSpecimen Inc.