Aptitude Secures $9M Partnership with BARDA to Develop Rapid Molecular Diagnostic for Ebolaviruses and Marburg Viruses

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptitude Medical Systems (Aptitude™) announced today its second major partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), with $9 million in funding to develop the Metrix Filovirus Panel. This rapid next-generation molecular diagnostic device aims to detect and differentiate Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus species. It is a small, portable platform, making it appropriate for use in remote and more traditional point-of-care settings, generating results in 30 minutes or less from venous or fingerstick blood samples.

This collaboration leverages Aptitude's next-generation molecular diagnostics platform, Metrix^®, which has been advanced through a prior BARDA partnership valued up to $61.9 million (contract number 75A50123C00013). The Metrix Filovirus Panel represents an innovative step forward in global health, leveraging the unique technology of the Metrix platform to deliver low-cost, lab-quality performance in decentralized, point-of-care settings.

"This partnership underscores our commitment to combating critical infectious disease threats," said Scott Ferguson, PhD, CEO of Aptitude. "The Metrix Filovirus Panel is designed to deliver rapid, reliable results in challenging settings, enabling timely treatment and containment of outbreaks, breaking reliance on traditional centralized models which, simply do not scale well in the face of an emergent threat."

With this funding, Aptitude will focus on the development, validation, and regulatory clearance of the Metrix Filovirus Panel. The device is built for broad accessibility, enabling deployment in decentralized settings where the need for early detection is paramount.

"Point-of-care diagnostics are essential for effectively addressing outbreaks of high-consequence pathogens like Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus species," added JP Wang, PhD, CTO, President and Executive Chairman of Aptitude. "This collaboration enables the use of blood samples on the Metrix platform, for the first time, significantly expanding the power of the platform to a wide range of applications."

The Metrix Filovirus Panel aligns with Aptitude's mission to democratize access to molecular diagnostics, further extending the platform's capabilities beyond respiratory and sexually transmitted infections. By simplifying the diagnostic process and reducing costs, Aptitude empowers healthcare providers and public health systems to act swiftly, mitigating the impact of infectious diseases.

This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under Other Transaction Number: 75A50123D00005.

About Aptitude: Aptitude is a pioneering deep-tech healthcare company revolutionizing infectious disease detection and treatment. Its mission is to democratize diagnostics by providing actionable lab-quality results, anywhere, in minutes. The Metrix COVID-19 test and the Metrix COVID/Flu test are commercially available FDA-authorized molecular tests on the platform. Aptitude has an extensive development pipeline to deliver on this mission for a wide range of health and wellness conditions.

To learn more, visit www.aptitudemedical.com, follow Aptitude on LinkedIn, and contact info@aptitudemedical.com.

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SOURCE Aptitude Medical Systems, Inc.