NEW YORK – Tangen Biosciences announced Tuesday it has received an additional $3.3 million from the US Department of Health and Human Services to continue developing its molecular diagnostic platform for the detection of anthrax in the bloodstream and to develop infectious disease tests.
The company initially received $7 million from HHS' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in September 2017 to develop a rapid point-of-care assay for anthrax. Tangen met the milestones from the first option of the contract, and the new $3.3 million will be used to conduct a clinical trial for a bloodstream anthrax diagnostic using the company's TangenDx platform.
The TangenDx – Anthrax assay detects anthrax virulence genetic markers from whole blood samples in less than an hour, the company said. Under the BARDA contract, Tangen also developed a prototype antimicrobial-resistant gene panel that can amplify multiple targets in one sample in a single run, the Tangen – Antimicrobial Resistant Panel.
Tangen said it plans to submit its anthrax test and GeneSpark point-of-care instrument to the US Food and Drug Administration for 510(k) clearance before the end of the year.
Last month, the Branford, Connecticut-based company also received a separate $696,000 contract from BARDA to develop a point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 test to run on the GeneSpark nucleic acid amplification system.