Ellume Health in deal to supply US with Covid home test kits

A rapid at home COVID test developed in Brisbane has been snapped up by the US but won’t be available in Australia for years.

Ellume Health CEO Sean Parsons is preparing for a major US expansion to fill a massive order for rapid at-home COVID tests. Picture: Glenn Hunt

A 15-minute, at home COVID test developed by a Brisbane company is unlikely to be available to Australians for years despite being snapped up by the US in a $300m deal.

Ellume Health was announced on Tuesday as the recipient of a major contract with the US Department of Defense to manufacture and supply 8.5 million at home COVID-19 tests by September.

Costing about $39 each, the tests use an analyser connected to the person’s smartphone by Bluetooth, to read the results of a self-administered nasal swab.

They can be used on adults and children as young as two, with or without COVID symptoms, making them the only authorised tests of their kind in the world.

Describing the occasion as a “momentous day” Ellume CEO Sean Parsons said the deal would allow the company to open a new facility in the US, capable of producing 19 million tests a month.

“We get asked a lot when is the product coming to Australia and the answer to that is not yet, there are some legislative barriers that would need to be worked through here in Australia that are preventing that,” Dr Parsons said.

“More to the point, our products are best designed for those places where there is a large amount of COVID in the community, where people need to be testing regularly to pick up those COVID-19 cases as soon as possible.”

He said COVID was not among the illnesses approved by the federal government for at home tests, but he was hopeful that would eventually change.

“COVID is not going to go away, the genie can’t go back into the bottle,” said Dr Parsons.

“We’re under good control at the minute with the border controls that we have but ultimately we will need to loosen those, COVID will come in and we need to have the tools to manage the post-COVID world in the long term. It can’t stay like this forever.”

Regardless of the demand within Australia, Dr Parsons said he was committed to remaining in Brisbane where a number of diagnostic products were being made for export.

The local workforce of 350 people was set to grow to 550 in coming months, in addition to the 1000 people to be employed in the US, most probably in the state of Maryland.

Acting Queensland Premier Steven Miles welcomed Ellume’s deal with the US, weeks after the state gifted the company a significant grant under the $50m Essential Goods and Supply Chain Program.

He said the funds had helped Ellume expand its manufacturing facility and increase employment.

“This is something we should all be very, very proud about, the fact that the United States has turned to a Queensland product to be a key weapon in their attempts to control COVID-19,” Mr Miles said.

As for the need for the tests to be made available to Australians, Mr Miles said the product was “not needed right now”.

“This has always been a product that would have the most application in places where they are struggling with a massive outbreak,” he said.

“We are very fortunate not to have that here and so we can rely on other technologies.”

But the Australian Airports Association was keen to see rapid testing rolled out as part of a package of measures for the phased resumption of international travel.

AAA chief executive James Goodwin said a plan was needed for the aviation industry over the next six months, for Australia’s economic recovery.

“A total vaccine rollout shouldn’t be the only contributing factor to reopening Australia’s international border,” Mr Goodwin said.

“A combination of pre-and post-flight rapid COVID testing, vaccines, contact tracing and a risk-based approach to quarantining should all be considered as part of the government’s plan.”