Hologic will expand production of its custom sample collection and processing consumables used for COVID-19 tests as part of a $7.6 million investment from the United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DoD).
The contract is “undefinitized,” meaning its terms and specifications may not be fully fleshed out.
“Hologic’s platform is in high demand, and with this investment, we will be able to improve the supply to laboratories across the country,” Adm. Brett Giroir, M.D., HHS assistant secretary for health, said.
Specifically, the government sought to boost production of tube, cap and multi-tube unit consumables, which are key components of molecular diagnostic tests used on the Panther and Panther Fusion systems. These fully automated, high throughput systems are each capable of performing more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests within 24 hours. Now Hologic’s efforts will be bolstered by the installed base of more than 1,100 of these systems.
Going forward, the multi-million dollar investment will increase Hologic’s test production from 4.8 million to 6.8 million per month. That increased volume of consumables should begin to reach the market by January 2021. Prior to this, Hologic had reached production capacity for its consumables.