The One Ecosystem that Takes a ‘Swiss Cheese’ Approach to COVID-19

Controlling and managing the spread of COVID-19 requires a layered approach to infection control – otherwise known as a Swiss Cheese approach – which Achiko AG (SWX: ACHI) is perfectly poised to facilitate.

The Swiss Cheese approach to disease management control posits that no single intervention works. For instance, washing your hands or wearing a mask is important, yet in isolation these things alone can’t stop the spread. When combined, however, they provide the best protection possible.

With that in mind, a vaccine alone won’t be enough to stop this pandemic. A multi-pronged approach is critical, and the Swiss Cheese approach is now widely seen as the best line of defence. The NY Times and The Wall Street Journal have been hard at work espousing the values of this model, citing founder James Reason’s approach that “it’s not really about any single layer of protection or the order of them, but about the additive success of using multiple layers, or cheese slices. Each slice has holes or failings, and those holes can change in number and size and location, depending on how we behave in response to each intervention.”

Achiko’s goal is to help the world navigate through the pandemic, by taking a multi-pronged (or Swiss cheese) approach to virus control and producing a low-cost testing regimen that can be widely scaled.

“The recent progress with vaccines is great news for all of us, and we’re looking forward to the pandemic coming to an end,” Steven Goh, CEO of Achiko AG says. “However, we do believe that testing will be with us for a longer period, and we’re excited to put a user-friendly solution to market shortly.”

Goh leads an experienced and passionate team that is dedicated to innovation and delivering real world solutions to help combat major problems, such as a pandemic. The team includes health tech specialists, app developers, financiers and entrepreneurs from Switzerland to Spain to Singapore to Indonesia.

Achiko’s multi-pronged approach has it combining two diagnostic protocols that may provide a means to best combat the virus: Gumnuts and Teman Sehat (health buddy in Indonesian).

How these Technologies Work

Gumnuts is a faster, less expensive, less invasive and more convenient COVID-19 test, compared to current testing methods. Importantly, it comes in the form of a minty mouthwash creating a far better consumer experience.

As a sister to the technologies that have given us MRNA Vaccines, Gumnuts is based on DNA Aptamers—a synthetic protein, printed to recognise the spike protein as part of COVID-19.   Being synthetic provides numerous advantages over testing technologies grounded by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or other rapid tests, in that the active agent is cheaper, more durable, produced in larger quantities, and may be more specific as a result of its encoding—all of which may provide a cheaper and better patient experience than other technologies.  

Achiko AG has exclusive commercialisation rights over the provisional patent, and over the next few months is looking to release several rapid test kits based on the technology as well as other testing formats. The Company is now conducting final clinical validation trials of Gumnuts, which if successful will lead to commercial rollout of an array of products in the first half of 2021.

As is the nature of the Swiss Cheese model, having one test alone is insufficient, so Achiko has developed Teman Sehat. This downloadable App holds a wallet that may contain the results obtained directly from Gumnuts, as well as many other passes (e.g. Commonpass, IATAs’ travel pass, vaccine certificates, etc), and makes the results of testing and vaccination usable in a day to day setting, as well as micro transactions (Uber ride fee or grocery shopping cost), the sum of which may reward places for safe haven traffic as well as paying for the costs of testing.

Achiko believes this service can help restore confidence in workplaces, resorts, cruise ships, airlines, schools, public transport, restaurants, and so many other places affected by the need to enforce social distancing as the only means of a response to the pandemic. 

This video explains how the technology works.

Combining the Technologies

When combined, Gumnuts and Teman Sehat are predicted to deliver an ‘information ecosystem’ allowing mass populations to live safely in COVID-19 times.

“This is not about just simply another test that is a better experience,” Goh says. “This is about making testing valuable in day to day use, so if you're tested / vaccinated, you can resume your normal life without accidentally harming people and have the confidence of being in the company of other people who have been tested.”

The Company’s business model is a public assurance one.

Roll-Out

Achiko is looking at a global roll-out of its technology to combat COVID-19, aware that the vaccination approach will take time.

Achiko is looking for partnerships to join them in that fight and recently announced a research agreement with Udayana University’s Research Department to study the practicability of a mass testing approach.

Diagnostic testing for COVID-19 will be deployed across three islands in the province of Bali (Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan), Indonesia, starting in late January 2021.

If successful, and given the interest shown by other nations, further international roll-out could happen quickly.

“We’re excited about the recent approvals for vaccines in the UK and the USA,” Goh says. “However, a vaccine will take years to be universally available and even then, not everyone can or will want to participate.”

“In the meantime, we’re excited to play a role in helping the world return to normal, getting Gumnuts and Teman Sehat rolled out internationally as fast as possible.”