NEW YORK ─ Becton Dickinson announced Tuesday that it has acquired Scanwell Health, a provider of smartphone-based at-home tests, for an undisclosed amount, providing a way to expand its presence in digital at-home testing for infectious diseases.
The acquisition will enable BD to expand its digital capabilities and speed the time to market for at-home tests, Dave Hickey, president of Life Sciences for BD, said in a statement.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to new care settings, and BD is ready to deliver a smart, connected at-home diagnostic ecosystem to support traditional and telehealth providers and consumers," Hickey added.
Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based BD has collaborated with Scanwell to develop an app used with the recently launched BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test, an over-the-counter antigen assay that provides results using a nasal swab in 15 minutes.
BD obtained US Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization for the test in August.
It uses a smartphone camera and app to capture and interpret results and eliminate human subjectivity associated with visually read at-home antigen tests, BD said.
The camera captures a SARS-CoV-2 test image and the app analyzes and interprets the image, providing a digital display of positive or negative testing results. The app can securely store and report test results to numerous organizations including businesses, public health authorities, and schools, BD said.
The transaction is expected to be immaterial to BD's fiscal 2022 financial results, and Scanwell's financial results will be reported under the Integrated Diagnostic Solutions business within BD's Life Sciences segment.