The newly developed molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for monkeypox has been made available outside of the U.S. for use in research applications by laboratories.
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based BD and Zaragoza, Spain-based CerTest announced a partnership to develop the test last month after the CDC said it was tracking a monkeypox outbreak in the United States and other countries that don’t normally report cases of the infectious virus. Monkeypox is said to cause a rash and lesions and is mainly shared through direct physical contact, though the CDC warns it can also be transmitted via respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact.
According to a news release, the new assay leveraged the BD Max system open system reagent suite to develop the CerTest Viasure monkeypox molecular test.
“One of the key advantages of the BD Max system is its open-architecture system that enables rapid response to emerging health threats,” BD VP of Molecular Diagnostics Nikos Pavlidis said in the release. “Just as we did at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we partnered with CerTest to quickly develop a molecular test to help better understand and track this disease.”
BD Max, a fully integrated, automated platform, performs nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR, providing results for up to 24 samples across multiple syndromes in less than three hours. The monkeypox PCR detection kit for BD Max is offered in a lyophilized format, with the test coming in a tube that snaps into the test-specific position on the BD Max ExK TNA extraction strip supplied by BD.
“Speed is of the essence when responding to what the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency,” said Nelson Fernandes, managing director of CerTest Biotec. “We hope this new test will boost capacity for monkeypox research, ultimately helping quell the spread of the disease.”