Xpedite Diagnostics GmbH has been incorporated on Nov 5, 2020 by Dr. Andy Wende. Our aim is to develop and market rapid and sensitive nucleic acid extraction solutions, which is the core expertise field of the founder.
Nucleic acid extraction is the often neglegted yet important step in nucleic acid testing (NAT). Whenever the sample required for NAT analysis is not a simple nose swab or a spit of saliva, the extraction of nucleic acids from that sample becomes tricky and determines the overall quality of the test result. Dr. Andy Wende has been working for almost 10 years at Qiagen in various projects around Point-of-Care diagnostics. During that time he developed a new approach to nucleic acid testing, which eventually led to the launch of the SpeedXtract™ Nucleic Acid Kit in 2015. However, Qiagen discontinued the product after short time, because it was considered a threat to the own established product portfolio. With Xpedite Diagnostics, Dr. Andy Wende aims to continue his passion of developing paradigm-changing DNA and RNA extraction solutions.
The first product of the new company is the one-step RNA and DNA extraction kit SwiftX™ Swabs. It provides a simple yet powerful solution for nucleic acid extraction from swabs taken from throat, nose, buccal, skin and the like. It extracts DNA and RNA from viruses as well as host cells. The kit was validated for extraction of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Covid19 patients. It is a cost-efficient alternative to classical NA extraction devices and is suited for high-throughput applications as well as for use at the Point-of-Care.