Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. Medford, New York, USA
https://chembio.com/
Chembio is developing a rapid point-of-care test for the detection of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies to diagnose acute infection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.
Typhoid fever is a severe systemic illness caused by the Gram-negative Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Each year, there are between 11 and 21 million cases of typhoid fever, with the greatest burden among children and individuals living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in South Asia, and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The illness is responsible for approximately 128,000 to 161,000 deaths globally, and its symptoms include abdominal pain and fever. Typhoid fever is usually spread through the consumption of contaminated food or water.
Chembio will develop a direct from blood point-of-care test for IgA antibody detection based on its proprietary Dual Path Platform® technology for the detection of two biomarkers (LPS and HlyE) with high accuracy for detecting enteric fever. The IgA antibody detection is intended to better identify acute infection, rather than previous infection or vaccination, representing the potential for a notable improvement in diagnostic accuracy over existing rapid tests for typhoid fever.
The CARB-X award will also support Chembio’s work in differentiating between Salmonella species, characterizing test performance over a range of time points post-fever onset, and assessing performance on sample sets in Africa, where the disease burden is particularly high.
Current Development Stage: Beta Development
CARB-X Investment: US$1.8 million
Initial CARB-X Investment Date: February 5, 2026