The ResApp Health Ltd (ASX: RAP) share price is shooting the lights out today.
ResApp shares closed yesterday at 6.2 cents and are currently trading for 9.9 cents. That's a whopping 59.7% gain for the ResApp share price in early morning trade.
The ASX healthcare share is focused on developing smartphone applications to diagnose and manage respiratory diseases.
Shares went into a trading halt on Thursday and emerged from that pause today after the release of results from its smartphone-based COVID-19 screening test.
What COVID-19 screening results were announced?
Investors are bidding up the ResApp share price after the company reported positive results from its cough audio-based COVID-19 screening test.
The test uses only a regular smartphone and makes use of machine learning to analyse the sound of a patient's cough.
ResApp said the clinical trial – which recruited 741 patients of who 446 were COVID-19 positive – correctly detected the virus in 92% of infected participants. That success rate, according to the release, exceeds the real-world measured sensitivity of rapid antigen tests.
The company said it sees the best early market opportunities in settings where frequent testing is required. In these settings its smartphone test could cut back on the number of RAT or PCR tests being administered, which would reduce costs and offer a more readily available test.
The ResApp share price could be getting an additional lift today from management's plans to now seek approvals from regulators and accelerate commercialisation of the smartphone test by partnering with a global health or technology company.
Commenting on the positive results, ResApp CEO, Tony Keating said:
The WHO have recently warned that the pandemic is not over, that health systems globally continue to strain under the current caseload and that we should be prepared for the potential of more dangerous variants to emerge.
We intend to accelerate commercialisation by immediately engaging with regulators globally and we have already commenced discussions with global health and technology companies with the goal of rapidly bringing this product to market.
Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University added, "The simplicity, ease of use and unlimited scalability of ResApp's test will be welcomed by public health officials around the world."
ResApp share price snapshot
With today's momentous intraday charge higher factored in, the ResApp share price is up 38.5% in 2022.
That compares to a year-to-date loss of 3.6% posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).
