A new COVID-19 saliva test in development by Honolulu engineering firm Oceanit has been selected as a semifinalist in the competition for an XPRIZE for Rapid COVID Testing, the company announced in a news release.

Oceanit’s “spit-in-tube” test, ASSURE-19 — which aims to be easily self-administered, in the manner of a home pregnancy test, and produce a result in three to 10 minutes at an estimated cost of $20 — was selected from a pool of nearly 700 teams from around the world in the XPRIZE Foundation’s initiative to develop faster, less costly and easier testing methods at scale.

“The goal is simple: remove delays, lack of supplies, and post-infectious results from the equation by creating rapid, frequent testing that allows for a safe reopening,” said James Andrews, head of marketing for Oceanit.

In the coming semifinal phase, Oceanit will perform blind proficiency testing on up to 200 inactive virus samples sent to the company by the XPRIZE Foundation, the results of which will determine whether it will be among the 20 teams to reach the final round, “of which we are confident,” Andrews said.

The prize money, to be awarded and shared equally by up to five teams, is $5 million, he added.

The ASSURE-19 test is making progress toward approval on several fronts: It has been selected for support by the National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative, whose goal is to develop rapid, simple and affordable COVID-19 testing, and is currently in the midst of clinical trials at The Queen’s Medical Center and with the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“Results have been very promising in both the in-vitro and in-vivo sampling that has been conducted to date,” Andrews said. “Our goal is to meet and surpass the 95% sensitivity bars and capture enough data for FDA Emergency Use Authorization.”

The XPRIZE Foundation is an international nonprofit formed in 1994 that has funded innovative competitions in the domain areas of space, oceans, learning, health, energy, environment, transportation, safety and robotics, including a $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for private spaceflight.

For more information, visit assure19.com.