AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminex
Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX) today announced that it has received
$642,450 in funding from the
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
These funds will help support development, testing, and submission
later this week for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the
ARIES® SARS-CoV-2 Assay. This assay will run on the
company's sample-to-answer ARIES® System, an
FDA-cleared, automated molecular diagnostics platform for moderate
complexity labs.
The ARIES® SARS-CoV-2 Assay is designed to provide
rapid answers in patients believed to have COVID-19, generating
results in approximately two hours. It can be run on 6-unit and
12-unit ARIES® Systems for labs seeking a
medium-throughput solution with minimal hands-on time required. The
assay will improve upon existing laboratory-developed tests (LDTs)
for SARS-CoV-2 on the ARIES® System by eliminating the
need to purchase and incorporate additional reagents, making the
test easier to run and allowing labs to start testing immediately
upon performance verification. Luminex intends to price the
ARIES® SARS-CoV-2 Assay below current government
reimbursement levels in order to prevent additional financial
burden on customers and the healthcare system during the COVID-19
pandemic.
BARDA is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services
and is tasked with protecting the country against emerging
infectious diseases and other threats. Through public-private
partnerships, BARDA supports the development of vaccines, drugs,
and diagnostics.
"Throughout this challenging time, the Luminex team has been
laser-focused on contributing to the global response to the
COVID-19 global outbreak," said Nachum "Homi" Shamir, President and
CEO of Luminex. "We thank BARDA for supporting our efforts to
develop and quickly launch this new test and our recently
EUA-cleared NxTAG CoV Extended Panel. Luminex is now on a run-rate
to deliver up to 500,000 tests per month, which are primarily
focused on helping our customers fight this global pandemic."
Luminex received a BARDA contract and an FDA EUA last week for
its new NxTAG CoV Extended Panel, a high-throughput test for
detecting SARS-CoV-2 that provides results for up to 96 samples in
approximately four hours. The NxTAG CoV Extended Panel runs on
Luminex's easy-to-use, compact MAGPIX® System.
These projects have been funded at approximately 36% each of
the expected overall cost of development with Federal funds from
the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority, Division of Research
Innovation and Ventures under Contract Nos. 75A50120C00037 (NxTAG
CoV Extended Panel) and 75A50120C00043 (ARIES®
SARS-CoV-2 Assay).
About Luminex Corporation
At Luminex, our mission is
to empower labs to obtain reliable, timely, and actionable answers,
ultimately advancing health. We offer a wide range of solutions
applicable in diverse markets including clinical diagnostics,
pharmaceutical drug discovery, biomedical research, genomic and
proteomic research, biodefense research, and food safety. We
accelerate reliable answers while simplifying complexity and
deliver certainty with a seamless experience. To learn more about
Luminex, please visit us at luminexcorp.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements relating to Luminex's business outlook, as well as other
statements that refer to future plans and expectations,
particularly around the development of products to address the
novel coronavirus. Such statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Words such as "expect," "believe," "quickly,"
"will," "expected," "designed," "can" and variations of such words
and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Statements that refer to or are based on estimates,
forecasts, projections, uncertain events or assumptions, and
anticipated trends in our businesses or the markets relevant to
them, also identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are
based on management's expectations as of the date they were first
made and, except as required by law, Luminex disclaims any
obligation to update these statements to reflect future events or
circumstances. Forward-looking statements involve many risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
the company's expectations include changes in market conditions,
supply constraints and other disruptions, changes in capital
requirements, and other factors set forth in Luminex's most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at
Luminex's website at www.luminexcorp.com and the SEC's website
at sec.gov.
Investor Contacts:
Harriss Currie
Sr. Vice President of Finance and CFO
hcurrie@luminexcorp.com
512-219-8020
Media Contact:
Michele Parisi:
Bioscribe
mparisi@bioscribe.com
925-864-5028
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SOURCE Luminex Corporation