Toowoomba scientist’s at-home test manufactured in Brisbane to sell millions in US despite Australian legislation issues

The small box held by Toowoomba scientist Dr Scott Fry has already helped thousands of people in the United States to know quickly and affordably whether they have Covid-19 — yet unfortunately no one in Australia can get it.

Ellume's head of research and development Dr Scott Fry helped develop a highly effective digital Covid-19 home testing kit.

Dr Scott Fry’s work to develop an accurate, affordable, and easy-to-use Covid-19 home testing kit has already helped to stop thousands of people contracting the virus in the United States.

He’s just disappointed residents in his own home town can’t have access to it.

The Toowoomba-born scientist runs research and development at Brisbane diagnostic healthcare company Ellume, which will ship millions of its testing kits to the United States thanks to a deal it struck with the country’s Department of Defence.

The digital kits, which are 96 per cent accurate and feed the results to a database that can be sent to health authorities, are also on sale in US pharmacies and on Amazon.

“When Covid emerged, we pivoted as a company and basically built a home Covid test,” said Dr Fry, who went to Harristown State High School and studied at the University of Southern Queensland.

“We have sent probably close to two million kits — we’ve got a contract with the DoD to supply eight million tests.”

Tens of thousands of tests are now leaving Ellume’s manufacturing plant in western Brisbane every day.

Incredibly, this facility was not financially supported by the state or federal governments, but rather thanks to a grant from the US’s National Institutes of Health.

“We engaged early with the US Government and they saw the value of the technology we had,” Dr Fry said, referring to a concept Ellume started developing during the swine flu epidemic in 2010.

“We got awarded a $30m NIH contract through its RADx program (Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics).

“I was responsible for dealing with the NIH and that funding was used to underwrite the construction of the Richlands facility.”

Despite it being a homegrown invention employing hundreds of Queenslanders, the test can’t be marketed in Australia due to prohibitive government legislation around home diagnostics.

Dr Fry said the company was hoping to see the laws relaxed soon.

“There’s no mechanism to allow for over-counter diagnostic tests,” he said.

“We’d need a change to the legislation to allow the Therapeutic Goods Administration to accept our products.

“I understand they are reviewing that legislation.”