“Positive results for detecting COVID-19 using a new cough...

“Positive results for detecting COVID-19 using a new cough audio-based algorithmDuring the quarter, ResApp announced positive results for a new novel cough audio-based COVID-19 screening test that only requires a smartphone. In a pilot clinical trial of 741 patients, ResApp’s screening test was found to correctly detect COVID-19 (sensitivity) in 92% of people with infection. The test was found to correctly identify patients who don’t have COVID-19 with 80% specificity. In a population where 5% of individuals are positive for the virus, the test had a negative predictive value of 99.5%, meaning that people who receive a negative test result are almost certainly truly negative and may not require a follow-on rapid antigen or PCR test.To ensure that the algorithm was specific to COVID-19 it was also tested against ResApp’s Breathe Easy pre-COVID-19 dataset. This dataset included patients with a variety of non-COVID- 19 related acute and chronic respiratory conditions. The algorithm achieved greater than 90% specificity for these patients.This reported performance was obtained using K-fold cross-validation to provide an estimate of performance on unseen data. ResApp is now progressing a validation study of the algorithms by recruiting additional patients in India and the United States to confirm the cross-validation results.ResApp is preparing documentation to engage with regulators globally to confirm pathways for regulatory approval and, in parallel, is in discussions with multiple sites for a blinded prospective study with results to be used for regulatory submissions.”


It’s been a few weeks since data confirmation readout, so far no update about the progress. Looking back at last quarterly, the test had 99.5% negative predictive value. It won’t surprise me Covid tool can achieve its sensitivity goal again, at a time later than the vote and court hearing, but in history those tweaking were always a priority. We will have to bear all about this till the scheme is voted down.