Battelle develops diagnostic test for COVID-19 with Ohio State University

Battelle and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have joined forces to develop a diagnostic test for COVID-19.

The new rapid test will allow for faster turnaround time with results available in as few as five hours. Wexner Medical Center will administer the new test under its existing FDA certification permits. Ohio State processed its first 91 tests for diagnosis this week using Battelle and Ohio State equipment in a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-certified pathology lab at Ohio State.

Battelle is now working to bring a second lab online in hopes of making more test processing available.

“Ohio State and Battelle teams have shown incredible leadership and ingenuity, in moving this project forward so rapidly,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said. “With this collaboration, we will increase testing right here in Ohio to better help health care professionals and public health officials understand, treat, and prevent the spread of the virus.”

The system can process approximately 200 tests per day right now, but the goal is to process more than 1,000 test swabs per day.

“Battelle has decades of experience in infectious disease research and has worked with virtually all federal health and national security agencies to respond to emerging health threats,” Lou Von Thaer, Battelle’s president and CEO, said. “I am incredibly proud of the Battelle team, the speed at which it was able to work around the clock to quickly get this operational, and our collaboration with The Ohio State University.”

Battelle has the largest private BSL-3 laboratory in the country. The company is actively working on several other solutions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re proud of the partnership of our dedicated scientists with Battelle researchers to help find innovative solutions for the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world,” Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs at The Ohio State University and CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, said. “Our physicians and nurses are eager to start administering these tests that will greatly increase our capacity to diagnose more people and assist us in finding solutions for this disease. Testing is just one of more than 50 new research areas aimed at combatting COVID-19 underway at the Wexner Medical Center. We are working hand in hand with Battelle on many of these critical projects.”