Challenges:
There is a shortage of nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs to test COVID-19 patients as large-scale testing ramps up. Most test kits are limited to those who show severe symptoms. As such, it’s hard to determine who is asymptomatic in order to curb community spread through other methods than shelter-in-place policies.
NP swabs print in progress on Figure 4.
Solutions:
3D Systems are working with clinicians to test the materials and print process of NP swabs printed on their systems. They believe that Figure 4 and its autoclavable, biocompatible MED-AMB materials will be a great fit mass-producing large quantities of swabs in a short amount of time.
Benefits:
The material and print process for NP swabs is still being validated. Based on initial capacity analysis of a single Figure 4 system, it can print 273 swabs in 2.5 hours, which equates to 34 seconds per swab or 18,345 swabs per week. They also have several ISO 13485 certified facilities that can produce medical parts.