COVID-19 Testing Provider Curative Acquires KorvaLabs

COVID-19 testing startup Curative Inc. has completed the acquisition of KorvaLabs Inc., a CLIA certified and DEA licensed analytical laboratory based in San Dimas, Calif. The acquisition arrives just months after the two organizations first partnered to begin manufacturing and processing Curative’s oral fluid-based COVID-19 test. To date, the company has processed more than 245,371 tests in total with support from KorvaLabs, and continues to process approximately 14,000 on a daily basis.
 
“KorvaLabs has been instrumental in enabling us to quickly scale our testing capacity and deliver accurate, easy-to-use oral fluid tests to thousands of people across the City and County of Los Angeles,” said Fred Turner, CEO and founder of Curative. “Curative has worked in close partnership with KorvaLabs for months now, so our decision to move forward with the acquisition just serves to formalize that relationship. Since day one, our mission has been to produce, distribute, and process as many tests as possible. KorvaLabs is and will continue to be an essential part of that effort.”
 
Curative and KorvaLabs began their partnership in March of this year, joining forces to convert the KorvaLabs facilities into a dedicated space for both producing and processing Curative’s novel, oral fluid-based COVID-19 test. Together, the two organizations have delivered thousands of test kits on behalf of the Los Angeles, and secured an FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in mid-April.
 
Clinical studies have demonstrated that Curative’s accurate, easy-to-use and rapidly scalable oral fluid test is at least as sensitive as the more common nasopharyngeal (NP) swab tests utilized for COVID-19 diagnosis. However, the Curative testing method offers a number of important advantages over NP swab tests that make it both safer to administer and easier to use.
 
Unlike NP swab tests, the Curative test does not create an exposure risk for healthcare workers during sample collection, and requires far less Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), meaning that it can be used safely and effectively by other front-line workers. Curative tests are also manufactured using a supply chain that is orthogonal from the supply chain that produces NP swab tests. As a result, Curative’s tests can be scaled rapidly without placing further stress on an already strained diagnostics supply chain.