February 23, 2021
MAKO Medical Laboratories, a national reference laboratory and leader in COVID-19 testing, is offering a new, cost-effective mass screening antigen test to help fight the pandemic. The new MAKO Antigen test utilizes the DiaSorin LIAISON® SARS-CoV-2 Ag high-throughput antigen test for COVID-19, which allows for an additional option to detect the virus in people suspected of having COVID-19 by their healthcare provider.
“Our MAKO team is excited to partner with Diasorin to bring this highly sensitive antigen test to the masses,” said Josh Arant, COO, MAKO Medical. “With a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 100%, utilizing nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs, MAKO can turn results around in less than 24 hours with a capacity to run over 100,000 tests per day.”
The MAKO Antigen test allows for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 N protein antigen, which is generally detectable during the acute phase of infection. The test combines a highly accurate in-lab antigen test with a platform capable of supporting large-scale screening of the active virus of COVID-19. This cost-effective test will help with mass screenings and determine whether a person diagnosed with the virus continues to have and carry the virus.
“DiaSorin’s platform demonstrates the next level of understanding for COVID-19 cases, and it allows our team to further our partnership with health officials across the country as a one-stop laboratory service provider,” said Arant.
A College of American Pathologists (CAP) accredited laboratory with more than 5 million COVID-19 tests performed since April 2020, MAKO Medical uses industry-leading testing assays and new Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) research panels to identify COVID-19 cases, as well as to detect the virus’s mutations and variants. To date, the MAKO team has detected more than 160 COVID-19 variant cases across nine of the thirty-eight states it conducts testing in, including instances of the B.117, B.1351, and L452R variants.
MAKO Medical operates more than 70,000 square feet of laboratory space across two North Carolina facilities, one in Henderson and one in Raleigh. The Henderson facility was expanded in 2020 in response to COVID-19, increasing the lab’s capacity from 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to over 150,000 tests per day. In the past 12 months, the MAKO team has grown from 350 people to more than 1,000.
Company Highlights:
- March 2020, Forbes Magazine included MAKO Medical in its inaugural list of America’s Best Startup Employers. Only 500 companies nationwide earned the distinction.
- August 2020, MAKO Medical announced the company scored 100% on CAP COVID Proficiency Testing, demonstrating MAKO’s commitment to quality lab results.
- Committed to the U.S. Military—At MAKO’s founding, leaders carved out divisions of the company to hire U.S. military veterans. These teams are foundational to MAKO’s elite and high-touch client services model. In November 2020, MAKO held its first Veterans Day lunch to honor veterans. The company served a free meal to all Vance County veterans and their family members.
INCLUDED PHOTO: MAKO Medical team members processing testing samples in the Henderson, NC laboratory.