Project ARK working to increase testing capacity

MANILA, Philippines — Private sector initiative Project Antibody Rapid test Kit (ARK) has tied up with the Philippine Society of Pathologists Inc. (PSPI) and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) for a study to validate the accuracy of pooled testing using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in an effort to increase the country’s testing capacity and reduce its cost.

At an online press conference yesterday, Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, who is leading Project ARK, said the study is being conducted with PSPI, while the PCMC SARS-COV2 testing laboratory would serve as site implementor.

The study is being undertaken to see if pooled testing could serve as a viable solution to increase testing capacity, as well as bring down its cost as the country continues to reopen the economy.

“Pooled testing is a game-changer. This is why we want to get organized with government and private hospitals,” Concepcion said.

Under a pooled testing system, swab samples of multiple individuals are put into a single PCR test.

A test is considered positive when at least one sample in the batch turns positive.

Further individual assessments would be made in case a positive result comes from a single batch of pooled tests.

If the swab test of multiple individuals comes back negative, no individual tests would be conducted.

ARK-PCR private sector chief implementer Janette Garin recommended pooled testing using PCR to increase testing capacity, noting 100,000 kits would be enough to test one million people.

Garin, former health secretary now representing Iloilo in Congress, is principal author of House Bill 6865 or Crushing COVID-19 Act which is pushing for pooled PCR testing.

The proposed measure has been approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives.

Aside from increasing testing capacity, Garin said pooled testing is aimed at bringing down the cost of PCR testing to around P350 per employee from around P2,000 to P3,500.

“It’s (P350) still a target. It will all depend on the outcome of the research which they will again be presenting in two weeks’ time,” she said.

To ensure that the pooled testing strategy maximizes limited resources, Concepcion said the study with the PSPI would use different pool sizes of five, 10 and 20 to determine the largest pooling size while retaining 90 percent sensitivity.

“Once the viability of pooled testing is validated, this strategy may be deployed to test workers in many industries like construction, factories, BPO (business process outsourcing) and even returning OFWs (overseas Filipino workers),” Concepcion said. Mayen Jaymalin