A BREAK-THROUGH PARADIGM IN VIRUS SCREENING
Creating a safer and more resilient global community by limiting epidemic spread of contagious pathogens
ABOUT
ClearKit Industry Group is a non-profit organization founded in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. This pandemic has taught us that the ability to test very large numbers of people on a daily basis is essential to reduce or eliminate the devastating societal impact of new pandemic threats. Private industry has launched dozens of testing initiatives, each with their own variation of molecular testing technology and their own walled-garden system. However, we don't believe that any effort driven by a single company will result in a solution that meets the required global scale and responsiveness for in-home molecular screening.
We see the need for an ecosystem producing hundreds of millions of home CE test devices and billions of test cartridges from multiple vendors to protect society globally. We think the only way to get to that point is if public stakeholders and private industry come together and create a new ecosystem for home pathogen screening components built around interoperability standards.
We recognize that we need to think differently about how we test at high volume to detect the presence of deadly viruses. Coordinated private efforts need to create and proliferate test infrastructure and tests that can provide early identification of any person carrying a virus. We cannot expect to fight this or future pandemics without the ability to identify those infected - and we can't leave it to a fragmented group of private companies to figure it out.
There are several promising solutions being developed by innovative companies, some have launched commercially, and so the technical foundation is there. There are also billions of dollars being invested in developing new in-home molecular testing solutions. The time is right. A major coordinated global effort amongst the brightest innovators in the private sector is needed, and it's needed NOW!
VISION
Building an Ecosystem (Like Bluetooth® or Android™) for Rapid Home Virus Screening
ClearKit Industry Group brings together contributions from consumer electronics, biochemistry, diagnostics, user experience design, and software tech to create an ecosystem for a new class of device for virus detection. We also bring together and engage stakeholders in government as well as stakeholders who run worksites, schools, transportation companies, sports leagues, restaurants, hospitality businesses, and any organization that depends on in-person interactions to operate.
Rather than create a single device or proprietary platform, we are developing technology and will publish reference designs and interoperability standards to create and manage an ecosystem that harnesses the combined strength of the global technology industry to deliver highly scalable and accessible solutions that help control pathogen outbreaks while keeping society, schools, and the economy open.
"This pandemic has created an unprecedented need for coordinated innovation to serve the greater good. ClearKit is about responding appropriately to that need.
Join us in our drive to quickly get to the point where it is easy and inexpensive for every person to detect viruses at home to protect our health and wellbeing. We can only do this through a unified effort."
Bill Brown
Founder, ClearKit Industry Group
WHY PROLIFERATION OF DAILY HOME VIRUS SCREENING CAPABILITY IS ESSENTIAL
#1 - CURRENT PANDEMIC
#2 - YEARLY INFLUENZA
#3 - FUTURE PANDEMICS
Still with us, incredibly costly, and likely will be for a while
Every year, the cost of the
flu is very high
A future pandemic could have much higher mortality rates
Even with a vaccine being available, the fact that it does not prevent the virus and it is not 100% adopted means it is not enough by itself. Daily screening can work in conjunction with the vaccine to prevent spread, free up hospital resources, and to detect the virus in the early stages, when anti-viral drugs can be effective.
Globally, we currently accept hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity and health care costs, and lose 250,000 - 500,000 lives each year. In the US, the estimates are ~$100B in direct healthcare and death costs, $10B in GDP loss, and 40,000-60,000 lives lost every year. We have gotten used to this, but it is largely preventable.
The scary thought is that as bad as the current coronavirus pandemic is, a future virus could have much more severe contagion and mortality characteristics. Imagine a virus that kills 20% of people under the age of 20, or 30% of all people who contract it. That is not impossible, and we MUST be ready before it gets here.
LAB TESTING CANNOT BE THE FRONT LINE DEFENSE
Scale of Testing Needed is Just Too Big
Note, we are using the US as a reference, but recognize this is a global issue that requires a global solution
LAB CAPACITY = 2M/WEEK
With extensive effort and a cost of $150/test, the US can spend $300M/week to test 2M people out of the 75M essential workers who cannot work remotely and the 75M students in this country. As we return to work with this small percentage of the workforce being tested, and asymptomatic people spread the virus, we will still experience millions of cases, hospital capacity issues, and hundreds of thousands of deaths with this approach.
REQUIRED TESTS = 850M/WEEK
The need is to test a large proportion of the population daily, before they leave home. We need approximately 850M tests per week. Once we deploy a home testing installed base, this should be achievable at a cost of ~$3B/week, while the economy stays running with very few cases and very few deaths.
SAVING LIVES, SAVING $4.5T
Between the $3T US government stimulus and the $1.7T drop in US market value caused by the need to shelter in place, the economic cost of not having residential-scale virus testing during a pandemic is tremendous. In a normal year, for the 13 weeks of Flu season, this is a $39B cost to avoid $100B in losses. Once ClearKit components are in place, the return on investment is massive.
CONTACT CLEARKIT INDUSTRY GROUP
