To ramp up capacity for COVID-19 testing, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) have awarded a contract with a ceiling of $7.6 million to Hologic, allowing the company to expand production of custom consumables for sample-collection and processing, according to a press release from HHS.
The tube, cap, and multi-tube unit are used to perform molecular diagnostic tests on the Panther and Panther Fusion systems. With the contract, Hologic will increase production from 4.8 million COVID-19 tests per month to 6.8 million tests per month. Hologic is expected to deliver the increased volume of consumables to market by January 2021, HHS said.
There is an installed base of more than 1,100 fully automated, high throughput Panther and Panther Fusion systems, each of which is each capable of performing more than 1,000 tests in a 24-hour period, HHS said.
HHS said the money for the contract came from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act to support industrial-base expansion for critical medical resources.
