T2 Biosystems jumps 38% after saying its diagnostic test can detect COVID-19 variants

• T2 Biosystems soared as much as 38% on Tuesday after the company said its diagnostic test for COVID-19 proved effective in identifying variants of the virus that are spreading in the UK and South Africa.
• The T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel has demonstrated clinical sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 100%, the company said.
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As the COVID-19 virus mutates into different variants, one small-cap diagnostics company says their test can detect the mutated strains: T2 Biosystems.

T2 Biosystems soared as much as 38% in Tuesday trades after it said its T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel proved effective in identifying variants of COVID-19 that are spreading quickly in the UK, South Africa, and the US.

The T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel has demonstrated clinical sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 100%, the company said.

An analysis of over 42,000 genome sequences for COVID-19 were evaluated for alignment with the diagnostic test, T2 Biosystems said.

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"This analysis demonstrated that the T2SARS-CoV-2 Panel should detect 99.99% of all SARS-CoV-2 viruses based on sequence alignments," the company said.

The bigger question is whether the COVID-19 vaccines from companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca will also protect the population against these new COVID-19 variant strains. So far, a study by Pfizer showed their vaccine should be effective against the various mutations of COVID-19.