CoPrimers™

CoPrimers™ are a leading-edge, patented platform technology developed by Co-Diagnostics that dramatically enhances the output of molecular diagnostic tests conducted via real-time polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”) tests.

The unique, proprietary structure of CoPrimers molecules creates reactions that are far more specific than competing PCR technologies, to better identify the presence of and distinguish between viruses, pathogens, cancer, or other attributes in agricultural or industrial applications. The prestigious Journal of Molecular Diagnostics deemed CoPrimers a TECHNICAL ADVANCE as they are 2.5 MILLION times more effective in reducing amplification errors.

One of the most important attributes of Co-Diagnostics’ CoPrimer technology is the virtual elimination of “primer-dimers,” the principal source of false positives in diagnostic testing. Primer-dimers are essentially the amplification of errors that can take place during the course of a molecular diagnostic test. These errors dramatically minimize the accuracy of the test and lead to false results and/or inaccurate diagnoses.

The importance of test accuracy cannot be overstated, particularly in a medical diagnostic situation. To be able to accurately diagnose a condition will allow for appropriate treatment protocols that can have a profound quality of life impact on a patient. Inaccurate testing for cancer or infectious diseases can be a life or death proposition. By virtually eliminating “primer-dimers” from molecular diagnostic testing, CoPrimers assure unparalleled performance of real-time PCR molecular tests. 

CoPrimers’ specificity also enables the identification of a broad spectrum of conditions in a single molecular diagnostic test procedure – known as Multiplexing – as opposed to conducting discrete individual procedures. Multiplexing enables a single test to identify numerous conditions, attributes, or genetic sequences simultaneously. Multiplexing has enormous implications on cost-efficiencies and time savings in molecular testing, which could prove substantial in a medical situation and in a manufacturing or agricultural setting.

Co-Diagnostics’ CoPrimer technology is being employed in a number of research projects in the U.S. The technology was most recently in a research project conducted by the Wang Group at Stanford University. The purpose of the study is to develop more efficient methods to detect multiple genetic mutations in the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene, including the most frequently occurring mutations in lung cancer, within a single reaction. The investigators have been conducting research into the subject using commercially available primers for several years, the results of which have previously been published, and are now utilizing CoPrimers to further improve comprehensive detection methods of mutations that are known to cause cancer. It is anticipated that the results of the study will be compiled and published later in 2018.

Patent no. 10,093,966 “COOPERATIVE PRIMERS, PROBES, AND APPLICATIONS THEREOF” covers the method for synthesizing a nucleic acid molecule in the structure first developed by Dr. Satterfield in 2012. Co-Diagnostics owns all the intellectual property on which CoPrimers are based.