Norwegian Diagnostics Firm Age Labs to Develop Epigenetics-Based Test for SARS-CoV-2

NEW YORK – Age Labs, a Norwegian diagnostics company that specializes in developing tests related to aging, has decided to use its expertise in data analysis and machine learning to craft a new test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Oslo-based company plans to develop a test that can identify high-risk individuals based on an epigenetic signature. With the ability to triage patients at risk of developing severe disease, the company believes its test could be used to guide treatment decisions, not only in its home market of Norway, which according to the World Health Organization has reported roughly 9,000 COVID-19-related cases and 250 deaths, but in adjacent Sweden, which has reported nearly 80,000 cases and 6,000 deaths since the virus was first identified late last year, as well as in other hard-hit markets, such as the US. "As we see it, this is not over at all," said CEO Espen Riskedal. "It's hard to predict who will have a serious outcome, so any sort of diagnostic that can help clinicians early on in making treatment decisions is needed," he said.