Sherlock Bio evaluates over-the-counter rapid test for STIs, aims launch in 2025

Bhanvi Satija
·2 min read

By Bhanvi Satija

(Reuters) - Sherlock Bio said on Thursday it had begun a trial of its over-the-counter rapid test for detecting sexually transmitted infections (STI) such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, and aims to launch it by mid-2025.

The Massachusetts-based startup expects to become the first to launch a prescription-free rapid test for the infections, which affected 2.3 million people in the United States in 2022. Current options include lab tests from Quest and LabCorp, among others.

"It's the first ever time where a lay user can use this in a home environment and get the exact same quality of results that they would get if they visited a doctor's office," Sherlock Bio CEO Bryan Dechairo said in an interview.

The company plans to recruit 2,500 sexually active volunteers at 20 study sites across the United States to test the accuracy of its CRISPR-based test compared to commonly used lab tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

The test relies on self collected swabs - from a vagina or the tip of a penis - and could provide results within 30 minutes, compared to a waiting time of 24 hours or more in lab tests that also need to be prescribed and booked.

Current STI testing is especially cumbersome for men, as it may involve urethral or an invasive swab - which can be painful and may discourage some consumers to get tested, according to the company.

Privately held Sherlock, which is backed by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Novalis Lifesciences, was the first to gain authorization for a CRISPR-based COVID-19 test in 2020.

The CRISPR gene editing tool, which won its inventors the Nobel Prize in 2020, is a type of molecular "scissor" technology that scientists can use to edit DNA.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Earth’s core has slowed so much it’s moving backward, scientists confirm. Here’s what it could mean

    Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has been the subject of fierce debate.

  • NASA Praises Boeing's Stranded Starliner for Managing Not to Explode While Docked to Space Station

    Bright Side As two astronauts remain stuck aboard the International Space Station thanks to a barrage of issues with Boeing's Starliner capsule, NASA is praising the aerospace company for getting them there in one piece. As Space.com reports, NASA said that despite the several issues that arose during its first days in space, the Starliner is […]

  • 12,000-year-old ritual passed down 500 generations may be world’s oldest

    Deep in an Australian cave, archaeologists have uncovered evidence that an Aboriginal ritual may have been passed down 500 generations and survived 12,000 years.

  • Astronomers Baffled After Zombie Star Remains Start "Glitching"

    Astronomers have long been puzzled by the "heartbeats" of neutron stars, the extremely dense remains of massive stars that erupted in a supernova. While we now know a lot more about their origins, the unusual pulses have led to plenty of theories, including the possibility of an ancient civilization attempting to communicate with us. […]

  • Former IBM scientist helms Shanghai AI Lab after death of SenseTime's Tang Xiao'ou

    Zhou Bowen, an artificial intelligence (AI) scientist formerly with US tech giant IBM and Chinese e-commerce platform operator JD.com, has become the new head of the Shanghai AI Laboratory after the death of its first director Tang Xiao'ou, a leading expert on facial recognition and co-founder of SenseTime Group. Zhou, 47, made his public debut as director of the Shanghai AI Lab on Thursday at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), China's largest AI event featuring prominent speak

  • Ancient swamp creature with a toilet seat-shaped head was a top predator before the dinosaurs

    With lengthy fangs and a massive skull, a giant salamander-like creature was likely the terror of polar swamps 40 million years before the dinosaurs appeared.

  • YouTuber helps researchers solve the mystery of a 2,000-year-old 'computer'

    The Antikythera mechanism was discovered over 100 years ago. Researchers think they solved the ancient computer's mystery with statistical techniques.

  • NASA Astronauts Run Into Cow While Practicing for Lunar Landing

    Moon Fashion In September 2026, NASA is hoping to land the first astronauts on the surface of the Moon in over 50 years as part of its Artemis III mission, a highly ambitious endeavor that will require the space agency to figuratively move a mountain. And preparations are long underway. Most recently, NASA astronauts Kate […]

  • Last season of excavation starts at Roman fort

    Archaeologists say the finds suggest a deliberately planned community was thriving and trading there.

  • Giant Horned Dinosaur Discovered In Ancient Swamps Of Montana

    Giant Horned Dinosaur Discovered In Ancient Swamps Of Montana. A ‘remarkable’ new species of giant horned, plant-eating dinosaur ranks among the largest ever discovered. The Lokiceratops rangiformis, a relative of Triceratops, was identified from a skull unearthed in the ancient swamp ‘badlands’ of Montana, near the USA-Canada border. The dinosaur is notable for several unique features, including two massive blade-like horns on the back of its frill and the absence of a nose horn. Scientists report the skull was longer than any other dinosaur within its group, Centrosaurinae, nearly matching the size of later horned giants. They estimate Lokiceratops measured around 6.7 meters in length and weighed approximately five tonnes. Like other ceratopsian dinosaurs, Lokiceratops had a mouth filled with over 200 teeth. Scientists believe Lokiceratops inhabited the swamps and floodplains along the eastern shore of Laramidia the island continent now comprising the western part of North America, more than 78 million years ago.

  • Evidence of Roman villas found in survey

    The survey at the Shropshire site also finds evidence of Roman roads and a WW2 RAF base.

  • High-speed hippos can get airborne, says new study

    Hippos can get airborne when moving at high speeds over land, according to a new study.

  • These oldest inhabited termite mounds have been active for 34,000 years

    CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest known active termite hills.

  • Live poultry markets may be source of bird flu virus in San Francisco wastewater

    As health officials try to understand how H5N1 got into Bay Area wastewater, they are pointing to live bird markets. But questions remain.

  • Nanoscopic motor proteins in the brain build the physical structures of memory

    New research has revealed the role that kinesin, a nanoscopic motor protein, holds in the brain. It helps build dendritic spines, the physical structures that grow from neurons.

  • Biden's bad week just got worse after he said he was the 'first Black woman to serve with a Black president'

    It comes just days after Biden's debate with former President Donald Trump, which was marked by verbal gaffes and confusing statements.

  • Rod Stewart, 79, rocked by shock divorce news: report

    In a surprising turn of events Rod Stewart has received some shocking divorce news. See details.

  • Large amount of lobster dumped along highway east of North Bay, Ont.: police

    BONFIELD, ONT. — Ontario Provincial Police say they found a large amount of lobster that had been dumped along a highway east of North Bay. Police say they received calls about lobster on the shoulder of Highway 17 in Bonfield on Tuesday. They say it was disposed of "for unknown reasons." Officers are reminding the public that it's illegal to litter or dump items along the highway. They say it can also cause safety issues when it attracts wildlife to the road. Police are asking anyone with infor

  • Pope Excommunicates Trump-Loving Ultra-Conservative

    The Vatican on Friday informed a Donald Trump-supporting archbishop that he is being excommunicated for refusing to recognize Pope Francis' authority after years of outspoken public attacks.Carlo Maria Vigano, an ultra-conservative who served as the Vatican’s diplomat to Washington, D.C. between 2011 and 2016, was formally accused last month of schism, which is one of the most serious offenses in canon law. Schism is “the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the memb

  • Ex-Trump Staffer Alleges Campaign Settled Seedy Suits in Bombshell Filing

    A thread of bombshell text messages made public Thursday alleged that Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign settled “multiple” seedy lawsuits for a man described only as “Boris,” leading to conjecture it could be a powerful Trumpworld figure.Those messages were revealed by A.J. Delgado—a former staffer on Trump’s 2016 campaign who’s embroiled in a lawsuit against the current campaign, alleging she was taken advantage of and raped by her former superior, Jason Miller.As part of that lawsuit, Delgado, a la