BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has announced a commitment from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to purchase BD diagnostic solutions in expanding access to rapid point-of-care testing (POCT) for COVID-19 through a broad, decentralized network of testing instrumentation.
HHS has committed to purchase 2,000 BD Veritor Plus systems and 750,000 SARS-CoV-2 antigen test kits for use on the system. Distribution is set to begin in a week, according to a press release from BD.
"The BD Veritor Plus system for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 is the latest point-of-care testing advance that will significantly expand testing in distributed locations for the benefit of all Americans," said Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, assistant secretary for Health and COVID-19 testing coordinator. "This development will help identify community spread of the virus by further enabling rapid diagnosis of COVID-19."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted BD an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its BD Veritor Plus system for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 earlier this month. The test leverages BD Veritor Plus analyzers, portable instruments that are slightly larger than a cell phone, which are already in use in more than 25,000 hospitals, clinician offices, urgent care centers and retail pharmacies in all 50 U.S. states. Its one-button functionality, workflow flexibility, and ease-of-use make it an ideal solution for settings without laboratory personnel. It offers customers real-time reporting capabilities through the BD Synapsys informatics solution, providing them with the ability to easily report data for disease monitoring and surveillance purposes.
"The ongoing pandemic has been devastating for individuals, families and businesses around the world," said Dave Hickey, president of Integrated Diagnostic Solutions for BD. "Until there is an effective treatment or vaccine, rapid diagnostic testing is fundamental to controlling the spread of the disease. The BD Veritor Plus analyzers, SARS-CoV-2 antigen test kits, and BD Synapsys informatics solution will play a critical role in helping clinicians identify individuals with COVID-19 while helping public health officials track COVID-19 incidence and identify emerging outbreaks in real-time."
