In our COVID-19 Health Innovation Update series, we’re dropping in on Health Transformers who are tackling the coronavirus. Watch the interview here, on StartUp Health TV, and scan the key takeaways below.

Key Points

• Brian Neman, CEO and co-founder of Sanguine Biosciences, partnered with Vir Biotechnology to complete a COVID-19 clinical study aimed at better understanding the biology of the disease.
• Sanguine Biosciences sends nurses and phlebotomists into the homes of recovered COVID-19 patients to collect blood samples.
• In an effort to increase safety, Sanguine Biosciences is no longer taking samples from individuals who have been outside the United States in the past 30 days.
• “We’re hoping [Vir] can identify the antigens responsible and they can optimize the antibody needed to treat COVID-19,” says Neman.
• Anyone who has had COVID-19 and has recovered is invited to take part in this clinical trial. Sign up is at sanguinebio.com. Choose “adult control” or “health control” in the drop down menu. The company is seeking more than 100 subjects currently.
• In-home testing for clinical trials has moved from being seen by researchers as a risk, says Neman, to being seen as a risk-mitigation strategy in a post-COVID world.