NEW YORK – PerkinElmer has partnered with Public Health Wales to establish a national COVID-19 testing laboratory in Cardiff, the company announced on Tuesday.
The lab is located at the University Hospital of Wales and was established following a call of action issued by Life Sciences Hub Wales, to which PerkinElmer responded with an offer to provide testing kits and lab equipment to process the kits. The Waltham, Massachusetts-based firm is providing the Chemagic viral DNA/RNA extraction kit, as well as the Chemagic 360 instruments, an automated platform for viral RNA isolation, a company spokesman said. Additionally, PerkinElmer is providing the Janus G3 workstation for automated sample reformatting and PCR set-up, and the firm's SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Detection kits.
"PerkinElmer has secured the technology to meet the immediate needs with the ability to scale as needed to support the test, trace, and protection strategy within Wales," the spokesman said.
"In this pandemic, governments are seeking guidance on best Covid-19 testing practices to resume normal business and economic activities, while ensuring the safety of their citizens," PerkinElmer Vice President and General Manager of Diagnostics Masoud Toloue said in a statement. "Our collaboration with Public Health Wales ensures a stable supply chain of nucleic acid extraction and RT-PCR kits and the required equipment to provide the Welsh government with the best testing solution."