Diagonal Bio initiates collaboration with SVA on evaluation of coronavirus in horses

Diagonal Bio AB (publ) ("Diagonal Bio" or "the Company"), with the point-of-care system LAMPlify®, have initiated a collaboration with Swedish Veterinary Agency (SVA) to support the evaluation of testing for equine coronavirus in nasal swabs. The project will be conducted during October and carried out by a Master student from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) under the supervision of Johanna Lindahl, State veterinarian and Professor in global infection biology.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of detecting equine coronavirus through nasal sampling. Outbreaks of equine coronavirus occurs each year and currently the standard testing method is PCR in faeces. There is at the present time different opinions for the hypothesis that coronavirus can be detected through nasal swabs. Diagonal Bio has developed a test for equine coronavirus in nasal swabs, and a Master student will compare the results from LAMPlify and PCR.

“We are pleased that SVA is interested in testing our method in one of their projects and look forward to learning about the results. We strongly believe that point-of-care testing can be an important tool for increased horse well-being as it allows for rapid interventions and selective action when there is a suspicion of a possible outbreak” - Karin Wehlin, CEO of Diagonal Bio.

In conjunction with the study, additional tests will be conducted to enable SVA to evaluate the performance of Diagonal Bio’s LAMPlify system. This dual-track approach supports both scientific research and comparing the performance of Diagonal Bio’s system with the PCR tests run by SVA.

“Equine coronavirus seems to be emerging in the horse population, and we are trying to understand more about the epidemiology and the virus. Point-of-care tests may be important for rapid detection of pathogens, and it will be interesting to see if nasal swabs can be used for detecting outbreaks. Early detection means that horses can be isolated more swiftly, but it is important that a method is sensitive enough” - Johanna Lindahl, State veterinarian and Professor in global infection biology at SVA.

The study will run from October 1 to October 31, after which a summary will be made. In addition to the tests for coronavirus, further parameters will be tested on the same samples to broaden the scope of the evaluation. Diagonal Bio will support with the instrument and consumables for the project; the Master student will conduct the hands-on testing and SVA will perform the supervision of the project.

For additional information about Diagonal Bio, please contact:

Karin Wehlin, CEO

Phone: +46 70 305 24 88

E-mail: kw@diagonalbio.com

About Diagonal Bio

Diagonal Bio AB was founded in 2020 and is a Swedish biotechnology company with headquarters and offices in Lund. The Company develops the PANVIRAL® platform to detect and diagnose small sections of pathogen genomes, for example viruses, bacteria and fungi. The Company was founded with the goal of reducing human suffering by revolutionising global diagnostics of pathogen-borne diseases with proprietary technology. Diagonal Bio's patented technology can also be used for the less regulated market segments via LAMPlify®.