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A startup based in Jerusalem developed the first pregnancy test in the world based on saliva and it is expected to become available in pharmacies as early as next year.
It will hit the shelves in retail stores and pharmacies in not just Israel, but also South Africa, Europe and the United Arab Emirates.
Salignostics
On Wednesday, an Israeli biotech firm, Salignostics, announced that the SaliStick test kids would become available early next year in the regions mentioned above.
The company had developed these pregnancy test kits based on the technology that was used for making testing kits for COVID-19.
According to the company, it was discussing with distributors about making the kits available as early as the first quarter of the next year.
Launched in 2016, the Israeli firm has received European CE certification for marketing SaliStick in the European Union and the Israeli Ministry of Health had also given it the greenlight.
The company is currently working on obtaining approval in the United from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Trials and testing
Salignostics said last year that it had completed clinical trials successfully in Israel, which comprised of about 300 women, both non-pregnant and pregnant and it was hoping to commercialize the kits soon.
Since then, it has established a manufacturing facility in northern Israel in the Lavon industrial park and the a million units can be manufactured on a monthly basis.
The deputy CEO and co-founder at Salignostics, Dr. Guy Krief, said that was great to see that a technology that had been created and improved for dealing with one of the worst pandemics could be used further for contributing to the wellness of women and families globally.
The saliva pregnancy test is quite simple and as compared to traditional tests, less messy, because it does not involve any urine.
The company said that women taking the test would have to insert one part of the kit into their mouth for collecting saliva.
They can then put it into a testing tube after a couple of seconds and results would be delivered in 10 minutes.
Additional details
Similar to urine-based tests, the saliva test can be used on the first day of a missed period for detecting the pregnancy. Two lines would mean it is positive.
The global pregnancy testing market is expected to hit a valuation of $2 billion by 2030 and Salignostics is entering this space with the SaliStick.
A team of Hebrew University researchers in Jerusalem founded the company and it focuses on saliva for diagnosing.
The company also manufactures COVID-19 testing kits that have been used widely in Africa and Europe.
Other than these kits, Salignostics also has kits for malaria cardiac risk and Helicobacter pylori, an intestinal bacterial infection, amongst others.
The co-founder of Salignostics, Professor Aaron Palmon, said that saliva can be used for rapid diagnosis for various reasons.
He stated that it was a hygienic, easy and non-invasive way of detecting viruses, hormones and diseases.