COV1RNA – HORIZON 2020

The COVIRNA project aims to generate a diagnostic test based on cardiovascular RNA biomarkers highly predictive of the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients and to enable its rapid market uptake to improve individualized surveillance, care, and follow-up of these patients in the context of the current pandemic.

Objective: At the technological and research levels

• To build a biobank of 2,000 blood samples from existing cohorts of COVID-19 patients throughout Europe to perform a retrospective multicentre international study;
• To achieve biomarker qualification and select a subset of highly specific lncRNAs predictive of COVID-19 clinical outcome using bioinformatics, artificial intelligence (AI), and biostatistics;
• To build a disease evolution prediction model based on selected lncRNAs and clinical data;
• To design a reliable, cost-efficient, and easy-to-use in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test to predict COVID19 clinical outcomes.

Objective: At the socio-economic and regulatory levels

• To achieve CE marking of the innovative COVIRNA prognostic solution;
• To establish a strategic science-policy-business-society consultation to optimize the design of the diagnosis solution complying with end-user's needs, cost-efficiency analysis requirements, current EU regulation, and highest quality standards to enable and accelerate their uptake into clinical practice;
• To raise stakeholders' awareness of the advantages brought by the newly designed diagnostic solution as a valuable decision-support tool for healthcare professionals to deliver the best health outcome for the most vulnerable COVID-19 patients through a tailored dissemination programme;
• Engage communities of stakeholders in sharing practical knowledge on the use of novel medical technology.