The University of South Florida (USF) has been awarded the Patents for Humanity award by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its patent of the 3D printed nasopharyngeal (NP) swab. 

    The swab was created early on in the pandemic as a solution for the disruption in commercial production of standard flocked NP swabs and were key to diagnosing COVID-19.

    USF says that due to urgent need worldwide, the team behind the 3D printed NP swab decided to forgo monetisation of the invention, and provided the necessary design files and clinical data at no cost to hospitals, clinics, and medical device companies around the world, as long as the swabs were produced for their own use.

    Over the span of one week in March 2020, teams from USF Health, Northwell Health, Tampa General Hospital, and Formlabs worked together to develop the swab using Formlabs 3D printers and biocompatible, autoclavable materials, which USF says were able to withstand elevated temperature and pressure of an autoclave.

    The prototypes were then benchmarked against standard flocked swabs for viral sample retention in the laboratory and tested for patient safety and comfort by USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine researchers.

    After passing the tests, the teams initiated a multisite clinical trial at multiple hospital sites across the US, including Tampa General Hospital, Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, New York, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, comparing performance of the 3D printed NP swabs with flocked swabs.

    The design was then shared with hospitals health systems, the military, and clinics around the world. USF says that to date, the patented design has been shared with institutions in more than 60 countries that have produced over 100 million swabs.

    Source: tctmagazine.com-Oliver Johnson