Empower Clinics Inc (CSE:CBDT) (OTCQB:EPWCF) (FRA:8EC) said Thursday that its latest acquisition Kai Medical Laboratory is introducing its new KAI ABC RT-PCR test protocol that will differentiate between influenza A and B strains and COVID-19.
In a statement, the Vancouver-based firm said the ability to differentiate between the viruses will be essential in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory pathogens.
Empower said the new test protocol should be ready to be rolled out in the first week of December, just in time for a recent 9,000-unit order for a film and television production that the company announced earlier in October.
READ: Empower Clinics says Kai Medical Lab pulls in C$1 million coronavirus test processing order from film production client
The KAI ABC RT-PCR test protocol offers a number of benefits, from enabling better treatment options to helping slow down the speed of COVID-19 transmission. While the cost of the test is around 15% to 25% higher than a standard RT-PCR test, the ABC RT-PCR test eliminates the need for a separate flu test.
Empower said it has a “high degree of confidence” that the benefits listed above will translate into significant new business.
"Kai Medical Laboratory with its team of scientists and lab experts are opening new channels of expansion for Empower in research and diagnostics, enabling the company to access dramatically larger national and international markets for healthcare products,” Empower CEO Steven McAuley said in a statement. “We have a number of exciting developments coming that expand and diversify our reach both through the lab and within our clinic layer that have direct access to patients.”
Kai Medical Laboratory’s president Yoshi Tyler said that the group is focusing on better quality testing.
"From an R&D perspective, Kai Medical Laboratory is focused on the future and new innovative quality testing to better understand the epidemiology and contagion containment that we have all experienced during this pandemic,” she told investors.
KAI is based in Dallas, Texas.
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