Chembio Wins $13.2M US BARDA Contract To Develop POC Zika Tests

HHS and its subagency Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has put together additional funding to award Chembio Diagnostic Systems $13.2m to develop and commercialize the firm's rapid point-of-care Zika test, a mere two weeks after the agency said it only had enough funds for Zika vaccine development.

Chembio Diagnostics Inc. announced on Aug. 25 a fresh, $13.2m total contract from BARDA, HHS's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, so it can carry out development and commercialization of its rapid point-of-care Zika test, although in mid-August HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell was concerned about finding an additional $342m to support diagnostics development to help pinpoint suspected cases in the US. (Also see "Hologic Wins $4.1m To Advance Zika Blood Screen" - Medtech Insight, 15 August, 2016.)

Chembio plans to use an initial $5.9m allotment from BARDA to work on its DPP Zika IgM/IgG Assay and DPP...

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