NEW YORK – Beckman Coulter said on Friday that the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has awarded it an expanded partnership.
According to BARDA, the award amount is almost $2.3 million.
It originally awarded Beckman Coulter, a Danaher business, a contract in the fall for up to $7.75 million to develop a sepsis detection algorithm. The expanded partnership was awarded to Beckman Coulter in collaboration with machine learning diagnostic algorithm developer Dascena for additional advanced R&D to optimize a machine learning-based sepsis diagnostic and a prediction algorithm to include assessment of its use with COVID-19 patients.
The sepsis diagnostic and prediction algorithm builds on Beckman Coulter’s Early Sepsis Indication, a biomarker which received US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance in April 2019. Together, the tools combine monocyte distribution width novel laboratory test parameter values with Dascena’s electronic health record data-based machine learning algorithm.
A Beckman Coulter spokesperson said that with the expansion, the full contract is valued at up to $8.06 million if all options are exercised.