The U.S. Departments of Defense (DoD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) have awarded a $4.6 million contract to DiaSorin Inc. to boost production capacity of SARS-CoV-2 serology tests by nearly eightfold, to 10 million per month by May 2022.
Currently, the lab diagnostics company DiaSorin produces approximately 1.3 million LIAISON SARS-CoV-2 TrimericS IgG tests per month at its Stillwater, Minn., facility. Boosting that figure, federal agencies hope, will, in turn, bolster the capabilities of the domestic health response.
The effort is funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) through allocations within the Health Care Enhancement Act. That act allows the agency to support domestic industrial base expansion for critical medical resources. In the ongoing pandemic, that includes COVID-19 tests. DoD led the selection effort through its Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell in coordination with the Department of the Air Force’s Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force.