NEW YORK – Becton Dickinson announced on Monday it has received an order for 9.2 million SARS-CoV-2 viral antigen assays from The Dutch Ministry of Health in The Netherlands. The firm expects to ship 1.2 million of the assays, which are for use on the BD Veritor Plus System, by mid-November.
The Dutch order marks the first European government contract for the test, BD said in a statement, noting also that the test obtained CE-IVD mark in September.
The Dutch Ministry of Health increased its an initial order by 8 million assays to improve testing capacity, and BD expects the order to be fulfilled by June 2021.
BD said the Veritor Plus System is already in use across Europe to detect Influenza A+B, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and Group A Strep.
The SARS-CoV-2 rapid viral antigen assay received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in July, followed shortly by a large purchase by the US Department of Health and Human Services and $24 million in funding from HHS and US Department of Defense to expand manufacturing capacity.