Over the past months the whole world got turned upside down. Companies had to go offline, work from home, sease to exist or move to other markets.
While 3D-printed solutions can solve shortages in the supply chain by providing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to healthcare workers, this technology also presents itself in another critical area in the fight against Covid-19: testing.
As demand for testing capacity increased worldwide, we partnered with HP and researchers from Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to investigate whether a 3D-printed variant of the Nasopharyngeal Swabs could be a solution.
A nasopharyngeal swab test being performed with a 3D-printed swab made by Ziggzagg.
The solution came in the form of a 15 centimetre long nasopharyngeal swab made out of polyamide, developed for HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology.
The swabs have already been validated for several months by an IRB (Institutional review board) with accompanying clinical tests. In recent months, Ziggzagg has already successfully introduced 400,000 of these swabs onto the Belgian health market under the watchful eye of the FAMHP and the Ministry of Health. Ziggzagg recently passed the whole CE certification and is ready to enter the National and International markets with this product.
Nasopharyngeal swab produced by Ziggzagg
The reagentia tubes are also sold by Ziggzagg, accompanied by a Nasopharyngeal swab. The tubes are not sold without a swab.