Harvard VIVID study aims to test whether vitamin D supplements reduce severity of symptoms and rate of hospitalizations or healthcare visits
Stockholm, February 22, 2021: Swedish medtech start-up Capitainer today announced that the company’s qDBS dried blood spot system for home sample collection is being used in a nationwide randomized clinical trial on the role of Vitamin D in COVID-19 run by Harvard Medical School.
Participants in the study, who are recruited throughout the U.S., aged >18 years, and recently diagnosed with COVID-19, are mailed the qDBS kit by the study investigators, perform the sampling at home, and post the sample back to the study for shipment to a laboratory for vitamin D analysis and COVID-19 antibody tests. The qDBS kits are also available online.
The Vitamin D for COVID-19 (VIVID) study is a clinical trial evaluating whether taking vitamin D supplements can reduce the severity of symptoms and reduce the rate of healthcare visits for symptoms or concerns related to a diagnosis of COVID-19. It is also studying whether vitamin D supplements reduce the risk of becoming infected with the novel coronavirus if you have been exposed to someone in your household who received a positive test for COVID-19.
“Offering home sampling is of critical importance for conducting our study. It allows the study participants to be recruited nationwide without complicated infrastructure in place for blood collections and without substantial engagement by healthcare facilities already under great pressure. Additionally, the participants have the convenience of an at-home study and avoid travel or extra clinical visits during the pandemic”, says the Principal Investigator JoAnn E. Manson, Professor of Medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
When it comes to accurate analyses, Capitainer’s qDBS dried blood spot system has been shown to provide as accurate volumes for analysis as any laboratory-based system.
Christopher Aulin, CEO of Capitainer comments:
“The study conducted by Dr. JoAnn Manson and colleagues at the prestigious Harvard Medical School illustrates how versatile our qDBS is – Vitamin D measurement and COVID-19 antibody tests are only two examples of the many application areas. For example, the qDBS card can be used for other antibody testing and PEth analysis for monitoring alcohol abuse and we are constantly working with partners to expand the list of validated applications.”
Find out more about the trial here: https://www.vividtrial.org/
For more information visit www.capitainer.se
Contacts
Christopher Aulin, CEO t: +46 708 977 577
e: aulin@capitainer.se
Media
Richard Hayhurst/Ola Bjorkman
Notes to Editors
About Capitainer’s qDBS
Capitainer’s qDBS system helps patients to collect their own volume defined dried blood spot at home. The patented smart chip ensures exact sample volumes of 10ul with low CV, independent of haemocrit. Patients simply place a drop of finger blood over the inlet port on the qDBS card which automatically fills a microchannel with the required amount and discards any excess. The potential for human error is thus minimized. Subsequently, the blood volume contained in the microchannel automatically transfers to the specimen collection membrane, forming a high-quality dried blood spot sample, preserved for quantitative bioanalysis. The filled card can then be safely transported to
the point of analysis without the need for refrigeration or specialized packaging.
About Capitainer
Capitainer AB is a Swedish Medtech company founded in 2013 by Professor Olof Beck from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute and Professor Göran Stemme, Asso. Prof. Niclas Roxhed and PhD Gabriel Lenk from the division of Micro- and Nanosystems at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden and business consultant Peter Bräutigam.
Capitainer is a supplier of intelligent solutions for Dried Blood and Plasma Spot sampling serving several market segments, including but not limited to Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Drug Development and Drugs of Abuse and Alcohol testing. By using a combination of paper- and polymer microfluidics the precision and accuracy of metering capillary blood is equivalent to that of a standard displacement pipette. Thus, the technology enables reliable, convenient solutions for healthcare sampling and patients’ home sampling based on blood or plasma.
For more information visit www.capitainer.se
