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Exhalation Technology Launch Clinical Trial for CoronaCheck™ – A Rapid Covid-19 Diagnostic Test


Cambridge, England, 2 November 2020 – Exhalation Technology (ETL), a Cambridge, UK-based company, announced the start of a large clinical study on humans with its novel CoronaCheck™ diagnostic test for Covid-19 in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). This is a rapid test (aims for a result in under 5 minutes) of high specificity and sensitivity for Covid-19, meeting the need for efficient and accurate testing in a wide range of environments including hospitals, airports, retail outlets, schools and similar spaces.

ETL have developed CoronaCheck™, a rapid antigen test for Covid-19 virus, exploiting their expertise in exhaled breath diagnostics.


Before the initiation of clinical trials in the UK, CoronaCheck™ has shown very promising results on the laboratory bench:

  • It is able to detect as few as <1.5 copies of virus per µl EBC; infected patients are expected to exhale >20 copies per µl

  • Test sensitivity is as great as 100% and specificity >90% at test time which aims to be under 5 minutes, yielding a rapid result at point of care

  • CoronaCheck™ has been tested with live virus as well as in inactivated virus, and in controlled solutions as well as in “virus-spiked” Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC)

  • Tests with UV-inactivated influenza virus shows that CoronaCheck™ can distinguish between Covid-19 and other viruses such as seasonal flu

  • Embedded Bluetooth functionality in CoronaCheck™ enables rapid reporting of results to healthcare authorities and other interested bodies

ETL has announced today that it has opened its human clinical trial program for CoronaCheck™ at the Clinic for Respiratory Medicine based in The Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, headed by professor Anoop Chauhan. This will enable a cohort of 300 patients to be tested in a blinded, ethics-approved clinical trial on infected and normal patients; data on up to 150 patients will be available mid Nov 2020.

Exhalation Technology (“ETL”) seeks a global strategic partner with which it can collaborate to exploit its new Covid-19 test. ETL has a strong history in developm