Applications are now increasingly sophisticated to detect COVID-19 only through the sound of coughing. Prizer was interested in buying it.
Reporting from News.com Australia, Sunday (4/24/2022) a start-up from Brisbane, Australia, named ResApp created an application that can detect COVID-19 by listening to the sound of coughing. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is also interested in buying it.
ResApp claims to have developed an algorithm on their app that goes beyond the sensitivity of antigen tests performed in the real world. ResApp said it was preparing licensing for their product.
Their algorithm managed to correctly detect COVID-19 in 92 percent of the infected people. The trial was conducted on 741 patients in India and the United States.
The ability of this application is based on research results that the sound of people coughing contains information that can identify the cause of the cough. ResApp on its official website says this sound is better than what doctors usually hear through a stethoscope.
Even so, ResApp CEO Tony Keating said their app still doesn't replace Antigen and PCR tests. This application is to help someone to undergo an Antigen or PCR test.
"This application is designed if the result is 'No', you don't need to take the antigen test or PCR. But if the result is 'Yes', you take the antigen test or PCR," said Keating.
Pfizer is also happy with this application. They agreed to buy this app AU$ 100 million. The value of its shares immediately rose 22 percent.
"We are excited about the prospect of an acquisition by Pfizer, a major biopharmaceutical company that shares our vision that technology can help transform healthcare and improve patients' lives," he said.
Pfizer and ResApp also said they would enter into a research and development agreement regarding COVID-19. ResApp says their accuracy rate is 92% of infected patients, which is already higher than the antigen test.
The diagnosis of COVID-19 through the application is considered not to reduce the cost for chemical tests. However, patients will have new options for telemedicine and access to treatment services.
ResApp was founded in 2014 from research by an Associate Professor University of Queensland named Udantha Abeyratne. This research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
