NEW YORK – T2 Biosystems announced on Wednesday that the US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has exercised its first option on a contract between the company and the agency.
The option, which is valued at $10.5 million, was exercised under a multiyear contract inked by T2 Bio and BARDA a year ago that is valued at a total of $69 million if all options are exercised. The option exercise follows the Lexington, Massachusetts-based company's completion of the base option to further develop certain products.
These products include a direct-from-blood panel for detecting biothreat pathogens such as B. anthracis, F. tularensis, Y. pestis, Burkholderia spp., and R. prowazekii. Another product is a direct-from-blood panel covering up to 99 percent of all bloodstream infections by means of at least 36 reported results, including pan-Gram-positive and pan-Gram-negative results, as well as resistance genes associated with bloodborne antibiotic-resistant threats identified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lastly, they include the development of a next-generation high-throughput instrument.