NEW YORK – Genedrive announced on Thursday a collaboration with Danaher's Beckman Coulter Life Sciences to automate the entire laboratory PCR testing process for detecting SARS-CoV-2.
The two companies are validating the Genedrive 96 Sars-CoV-2 kit on the Biomek i7 automated workstation using saliva samples extracted with Indianapolis-based Beckman Coulter's RNAdvance viral extraction chemistry. Manchester, UK-based Genedrive has completed the initial evaluation of the extraction chemistry to confirm compatibility with Genedrive's test and is validating it in clinical saliva samples, it said.
Beckman Coulter's RNAdvance Viral XP is listed as an extraction method suitable for swab samples for use with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's SARS-CoV-2 test, which received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in February.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The combination of our ready-to-use chemistry with robotics and on-board RNA extraction would give laboratories a unique and rapid workflow that can achieve impressive throughput and result turnaround times," Genedrive CEO David Budd said in a statement. "We are both working to have the ongoing validation completed in approximately six weeks, with initial introduction in the USA at an already identified clinical laboratory."