The University of Illinois System’s Shield T3 LLC plans to wind down operations by the end of December, system President Tim Killeen announced Monday morning.

Shield T3 is a for-profit entity founded in 2020 by the University of Illinois System and its Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), initially to provide the SHIELD saliva-based testing for COVID-19 detection outside of the state of Illinois.

SHIELD tests were developed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and were widely deployed at U of I System universities and, through a separate entity known as SHIELD Illinois, beyond in support of the state of Illinois’ COVID strategy.

Shield T3 was purpose-built but, with the end of the pandemic health emergency earlier this year and decline in the volume of COVID-19 tests being processed, its business is now ending, Killeen said.

“Shield T3 provided lifesaving testing during the most challenging periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking our revolutionary and reliable SHIELD test and making it available to many millions of people across the country and around the world,” Killeen said. “When Illinois and the world needed us most, the U of I System answered with SHIELD and Shield T3. I am incredibly proud of all of those who worked to make this happen.”

Bill Jackson, DPI’s executive director, said the creation of the SHIELD test and Shield T3 was a testament to the capacity of the U of I System to deliver on its mission to serve the public good, and to do that in real time when the stakes are at their highest.

“SHIELD and Shield T3 are products of the innovative power that drives the U of I System,” Jackson said.

In addition to SHIELD testing, Shield T3 also grew to provide wastewater testing to track COVID-19, RSV and influenza, and more recently deployed kiosks to dispense health care products such as over-the-counter medicines, primarily on university campuses.

The wind-down of Shield T3 will require a vote of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, anticipated at the board’s next regular meeting in November.

At its peak, Shield T3 employed 172 full-time staff members and contractors. It has processed more than 5 million tests.