In the first study1, clinicians in Wuhan, China observed that a subset of infected individuals who tested negative for COVID-19 using qPCR tested positive using ddPCR. The findings suggest that ddPCR can reduce false negative results of COVID-19 without any increase to false positive results, and could be a powerful complement to the current standard of testing.
The second study2, led by the National Institute of Metrology and provincial CDCs in China, also concluded that Droplet Digital PCR significantly improves diagnostic detection accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 from 28.2% to 87.4%, thereby reducing false negatives. Furthermore, they found that Droplet Digital PCR is more sensitive and suitable for low virus load specimens from patients under isolation and observation even without any clinical symptoms.
“Bio-Rad is working to make ddPCR-based tests available for COVID-19 detection and is partnering with Biodesix in Colorado to bring an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) test online,” said Norman ...
