With lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pentagon is focused on the next one—from the hypothetical “Pathogen X.”

The Pentagon is investing in a deployable diagnostic tool known as GeneCapture to more quickly and efficiently handle future diseases. That the investment comes on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic is no coincidence.

Regardless of one’s views on the government response to COVID-19, the pandemic objectively disrupted society in a way no event has in generations. Everything from the economy to supply chains to education to athletics to politics was upended. The military, too, was forced to adjust operations and procedures—marking a point of vulnerability for an entity whose existence is premised upon mitigating national vulnerability.

“The U.S. military was forced to conduct hundreds of emergency medical evacuations out of combat zones, pause critical training evolutions, and redirect vast amounts of medical and logistics resources towards fighting the mysterious and deadly” COVID-19, Defense News reported.

The Pentagon’s $12 Million Gamble on GeneCapture

Now, however, with lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pentagon is focused on the next one—from the hypothetical “Pathogen X.” The Pentagon has committed millions towards GeneCapture, “a developmental technology that creators and funders say can diagnose infections and pathogen families within an hour for about $20 per test.” That compares to the more typical 72 hours and $160 for more conventional, existing tests. 

So far, $12 million has been invested into the GeneCapture program. Most of the funding has come from the Chemical Biological Defense Program (CBDP) and the Defense Health Agency. The team working on GeneCapture, based at the HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, Alabama, has begun raising funds for clinical trials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—who must certify the product before it can be deployed with the military.

Retired Army Colonel Dav Zimmerman, who served as a medical officer for three decades and now works for GeneCapture, told Military Times that the company’s tests would have made his life far easier when he was a medevac pilot.

“Having a capability on board for your flight medics…the more tools the medic has, the better he’s going to be able to treat the patient,” said Zimmerman. “And there’s been many instances in Afghanistan where we would fly and someone would be injured and have some kind of illness and we wouldn’t be able to know until we got back to the hospital…[GeneCapture] is what I would want for my soldiers now.”

What the GeneCapture Test Kits Do

GeneCapture is expected to help test for a variety of ailments, including urinary tract infections, bacterial and fungal wound infections, animal and plant toxins, and various biothreats—dengue fever, coronavirus, influenza, typhus, lassa fever, and of course, the hypothetical Pathogen X.

“When you go into…a war in the future, there’s a lot of unknown, right?” Zimmerman said. “Having the best and simplest equipment for your medical professionals to help diagnose what’s wrong with the patients is critical…I’m all about giving the soldier the advantage when it comes to saving others’ lives.”

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Image: Shutterstock / Anukrake Singto-On.

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