NEW YORK ─ Chembio Diagnostics said Monday it has inked a multiyear, non‑exclusive agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s healthcare channel for the distribution of Chembio’s DPP COVID-19 System in the US.
Separately, Thermo Fisher announced a contract with the US government to provide viral transport media for SARS-CoV-2 samples.
Chembio's DPP COVID‑19 System is a rapid serological test and analyzer that provides numerical readings for both IgM and IgG antibody levels within 15 minutes from a finger stick drop of blood, running on Chembio’s Micro Reader 1 or Micro Reader 2 analyzer, according to the Hauppauge, New York-based point-of-care diagnostics firm.
The strategic supplier partnership with the Fisher Healthcare channel, part of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific, "will significantly increase our commercial footprint by providing access to thousands of hospital and physician-office moderately complex labs across the country," Rick Eberly, Chembio’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
The company has initiated a training and marketing program for the Fisher Healthcare channel sales team to quickly expand the targeted coverage for this segment of the market, he said.
Chembio announced in April that it had received US Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization for its DPP COVID-19 system.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Separately, Thermo Fisher also said it has received a contract from the US government to provide viral transport media for COVID-19 sample collection.
The company plans to expand its existing VTM production site in Lenexa, Kansas by building a new $40 million facility for VTM production and quality control. This will allow it to increase production from more than one million to more than eight million VTM-filled tubes per week. Thermo Fisher said it already increased production from 50,000 to more than 1 million tubes per week
The new Lenexa facility is expected to be completed in the third quarter and will create approximately 300 new full-time jobs.