NEW YORK ─ The US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded $13 million to Siemens Healthineers for the development of its Advia Centaur SARS-CoV-2 antibody test and high-throughput Atellica IM SARS-CoV-2 Antigen (CoV2Ag) Test, BARDA announced on Friday.
Siemens Healthineers' CoV2Ag test is a chemiluminescent immunoassay in development for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens in nasal swabs or saliva specimens on the firm's Advia Centaur XP and XPT systems, BARDA said.
BARDA announced in June that it awarded $602,275 to Siemens Healthineers for the continued development of its SARS-CoV-2 total antibody test.
The Erlangen, Germany-based firm has more than 2,000 fully automated immunoassay analyzers in hospitals and mid- to high-volume reference laboratories in all 50 US states that could run the CoV2Ag test, BARDA noted.
The company's immunoassay analyzers include the Atellica IM, which can run up to 440 tests per hour with results in 10 minutes, and the Advia Centaur XP and XPT analyzers, which can test up to 240 samples per hour with results in 18 minutes, it added.
At the end of May, the company's Atellica IM SARS-CoV-2 Total test and Advia Centaur SARS-CoV-2 Total test were granted US Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorizations.