Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) said today it will submit an emergency use authorization request this week to the FDA for a coronavirus test that could be used on the BD Max molecular diagnostic system.
The diagnostic system is used in hundreds of laboratories across the U.S., according to the company.
“BD is also exploring the development of a point-of-care test for coronavirus by leveraging the BD Veritor system,” said BD president and CEO Tom Polen in a news release. “The BD Veritor system is currently used to test for other respiratory infections including Influenza A, Influenza B, RSV and group A Streptococcus.”
BD is one of many organizations that are racing to manufacture COVID-19 tests as the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow in the U.S. Mayo Clinic this week announced that it developed a test to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Patients taking the Mayo Clinic test can expect results within 24 hours.
BD also said that company officials met with the White House and CEOs of companies involved in expanding access to COVID-19 testing and test development.
“The companies involved in efforts to expand access to coronavirus testing, including BD, made it clear that we are here to support the U.S. effort to combat coronavirus as we have in other parts of the world,” Polen said. “Specifically for BD, we are working around the clock internally and with external partners to increase the coronavirus diagnostic capacity in the U.S. by ramping up production of our sample collection tools and increasing access to our automated molecular platform for in vitro diagnostics.”