NEW YORK – Genedrive announced on Monday that it has entered a distribution agreement with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences to sell and distribute Genedrive's SARS-CoV-2 kit.Â
Under the agreement, Danaher subsidiary Beckman Coulter will sell and distribute Genedrive's 96 SARS-CoV-2 test in the US and Europe for use on upper respiratory viral samples. The companies are planning to launch the test commercially in mid-February, Genedrive said in a statement.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The new agreement comes after a collaboration agreement between the two companies in August to develop a fully automated PCR test for Beckman Coulter's Biomek instrument and used with the firm's RNAdvance Viral XP extraction kit.Â
Manchester, UK-based Genedrive's test is "ideally suited" for use on the Biomek i7 instrument, Genedrive said. The test "removes many of the fluid dispensing steps" of other PCR tests, the company added.
According to Indianapolis-based Beckman Coulter, its Biomek instrument could process approximately 1,000 samples per day.
The Genedrive 96 SARS-CoV-2 test was CE marked in May 2020. Genedrive applied for Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration the same month, but due to the delay, Genedrive will import the test while the EUA is under review, a spokesperson for the company said.