Rhinostics, Inc., an innovator in sample collection technologies, today announced that it has received Health Canada approval for sale of its RHINOstic™ Automated Nasal Swab for medically supervised collection or self-collection for ages 18 and above. With this COVID-19 Medical Device Authorization for Importation or Sale, Rhinostics may immediately begin supplying the RHINOstic™ to laboratories across Canada.
"The Health Canada approval for our RHINOstic represents an important milestone in our regulatory and commercialization strategies, validating the clinical performance of our novel nasal swabs compared to flocked nasopharyngeal products," commented Cheri Walker, PhD, President and CEO of Rhinostics. "More importantly, any Canadian involved in swab sample collection or processing, from patient to clinician to lab technician, can now experience the positive and lasting impact of our innovative automated swab technologies."
The patent-pending RHINOstic integrates a unique, polypropylene-based swab with an automation-friendly cap. After the nasal sample is collected, the swab is placed into a transport tube with optional 2D/1D barcodes and ready for dry transport. The hydrophobic material and lack of viral transport media (VTM) help to reduce reagent costs, leaking/aerosol risks, and viral transport media-based assay inhibitors, and aid in ensuring complete sample elution compared to antiquated foam or spun fiber swabs.
In an automated workflow with a robotic decapper and automated liquid handler, up to 96 samples may be rapidly and reproducibly accessioned, decapped, and processed into assay plates at once versus the manual process, which can take up to 18 minutes to process the same number of samples. This enables high throughput workflows with minimal manual intervention, supports robust data, and instant scalability to meet surging sample demands without increasing labor costs. It also allows laboratories to manage their staff, where COVID-19 surges will not require armies of temporary workers but instead, relies on robotics to manage the increase of samples during peak times while lowering per sample labor costs to roughly $0.50 per sample.
About Rhinostics
Rhinostics Inc. is revolutionizing swab-based sample processing workflows around the world. As an early-stage company, we bring efficiencies and cost savings to laboratory workflows through our simple and elegant swab solutions. Our flagship RHINOstic™ Automated Nasal Swab is uniquely crafted to work in an automated workflow and offers a robust and consistent 10x sample throughput increase with high consistency compared to manual methods. As a scalable solution, the RHINOstic helps to keep labor costs at a minimum, while dry transport reduces reagent costs and tip-intensive processing steps. Our manual swabs are also designed to improve efficiency, with dry transport, high collection yields, and complete sample elution. All bring an immediate and beneficial impact to COVID-19 testing as well as those processing respiratory viral, bacterial, and genetic tests using PCR and NGS methods. Rhinostics products are registered as Class I exempt medical devices with the U.S. FDA and may be used for clinical collection upon CLIA validation. In 2022, Rhinostics received a Bronze Edison Award in the COVID-19 Innovations, Testing Solutions category for the RHINOstic Automated Nasal Swab. To learn more, visit https://www.rhinostics.com.
News
Chernobyl scientists discover black fungus feeding on deadly radiation
It looks pretty sinister, but it might actually be incredibly helpful When reactor number four in Chernobyl exploded, it triggered the worst nuclear disaster in history, one which the surrounding area still has not [...]
Long COVID Is Taking A Silent Toll On Mental Health, Here’s What Experts Say
Months after recovering from COVID-19, many people continue to feel unwell. They speak of exhaustion that doesn’t fade, difficulty breathing, or an unsettling mental haze. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that recovery from the [...]
Study Delivers Cancer Drugs Directly to the Tumor Nucleus
A new peptide-based nanotube treatment sneaks chemo into drug-resistant cancer cells, providing a unique workaround to one of oncology’s toughest hurdles. CiQUS researchers have developed a novel molecular strategy that allows a chemotherapy drug to [...]
Scientists Begin $14.2 Million Project To Decode the Body’s “Hidden Sixth Sense”
An NIH-supported initiative seeks to unravel how the nervous system tracks and regulates the body’s internal organs. How does your brain recognize when it’s time to take a breath, when your blood pressure has [...]
Scientists Discover a New Form of Ice That Shouldn’t Exist
Researchers at the European XFEL and DESY are investigating unusual forms of ice that can exist at room temperature when subjected to extreme pressure. Ice comes in many forms, even when made of nothing but water [...]
Nobel-winning, tiny ‘sponge crystals’ with an astonishing amount of inner space
The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi on Oct. 8, 2025, for the development of metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, which are tunable crystal structures with extremely [...]
Harnessing Green-Synthesized Nanoparticles for Water Purification
A new review reveals how plant- and microbe-derived nanoparticles can power next-gen water disinfection, delivering cleaner, safer water without the environmental cost of traditional treatments. A recent review published in Nanomaterials highlights the potential of green-synthesized nanomaterials (GSNMs) in [...]
Brainstem damage found to be behind long-lasting effects of severe Covid-19
Damage to the brainstem - the brain's 'control center' - is behind long-lasting physical and psychiatric effects of severe Covid-19 infection, a study suggests. Using ultra-high-resolution scanners that can see the living brain in [...]
CT scan changes over one year predict outcomes in fibrotic lung disease
Researchers at National Jewish Health have shown that subtle increases in lung scarring, detected by an artificial intelligence-based tool on CT scans taken one year apart, are associated with disease progression and survival in [...]
AI Spots Hidden Signs of Disease Before Symptoms Appear
Researchers suggest that examining the inner workings of cells more closely could help physicians detect diseases earlier and more accurately match patients with effective therapies. Researchers at McGill University have created an artificial intelligence tool capable of uncovering [...]
Breakthrough Blood Test Detects Head and Neck Cancer up to 10 Years Before Symptoms
Mass General Brigham’s HPV-DeepSeek test enables much earlier cancer detection through a blood sample, creating a new opportunity for screening HPV-related head and neck cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for about 70% of [...]
Study of 86 chikungunya outbreaks reveals unpredictability in size and severity
The symptoms come on quickly—acute fever, followed by debilitating joint pain that can last for months. Though rarely fatal, the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness, can be particularly severe for high-risk individuals, including newborns and older [...]
Tiny Fat Messengers May Link Obesity to Alzheimer’s Plaque Buildup
Summary: A groundbreaking study reveals how obesity may drive Alzheimer’s disease through tiny messengers called extracellular vesicles released from fat tissue. These vesicles carry lipids that alter how quickly amyloid-β plaques form, a hallmark of [...]
Ozone exposure weakens lung function and reshapes the oral microbiome
Scientists reveal that short-term ozone inhalation doesn’t just harm the lungs; it reshapes the microbes in your mouth, with men facing the greatest risks. Ozone is a toxic environmental pollutant with wide-ranging effects on [...]
New study reveals molecular basis of Long COVID brain fog
Even though many years have passed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of infection with SARS-CoV-2 are not completely understood. This is especially true for Long COVID, a chronic condition that [...]
Scientists make huge Parkinson’s breakthrough as they discover ‘protein trigger’
Scientists have, for the first time, directly visualised the protein clusters in the brain believed to trigger Parkinson's disease, bringing them one step closer to potential treatments. Parkinson's is a progressive incurable neurological disorder [...]
