02 Sep Aegis Sciences Corporation announces it has been awarded $6.6 million NIH grant to rapidly expand COVID-19 Test Capacity
Capacity for 60,000 tests a day expected by September 30 with most results available within 24 hours
Nashville, Tennessee (September 2, 2020) – Aegis Sciences Corporation, a leading healthcare company that provides clinically innovative medication compliance testing and consulting services to providers has been selected to participate in the National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative and will be receiving an NIH grant of $6.6 million to expand COVID-19 testing capacity to 60,000 tests per day by September 30th, along with a multiplexed SARS-CoV-2 + Flu A/B assay by early October.
Since launching COVID-19 testing on April 15, Aegis has more than quadrupled its capacity and distinguished itself by consistently providing accurate results within a 24 to 48hr turnaround time, with most results available in 24 hours or less. Aegis provides reliable COVID-19 testing services to communities across the United States.
“Since the onset of the public health emergency, in addition to working alongside numerous state and local administrations, Aegis has sought to closely coordinate its efforts with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Trump Administration. We are honored to have developed this working relationship with HHS and NIH and to have earned the trust they have placed in us based upon our ability to deliver high quality tests with fast turnaround times,” said Joel Galanter, Aegis’s Chief Legal Officer.
Aegis Sciences Corporation provides a molecular diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2. The assay is performed using Real Time Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (Real Time RT-PCR) and can detect as little as 400 copies of virus in a milliliter (ml) of sample. The high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 test may be performed on a specimen obtained from a nasal swab. Aegis’s newly expanded laboratory has recently quadrupled capacity to over 15,000 samples per day and will quadruple again to reach over 60,000 samples per day by September 30th, along with a multiplexed SARS-CoV-2 + Flu A/B assay by early October. Upon sample receipt, these tests will quickly and accurately return results in 24 hours or less on average. The testing is performed in a highly automated manner to ensure accuracy, precision, and reproducibility.
“We believe that test accuracy and rapid turnaround time are crucial building blocks in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. From the start Aegis has successfully focused its efforts on achieving a 24-hour turnaround time and invested in the necessary lab personnel and infrastructure to consistently deliver superior service in an increasingly dynamic environment. This important support from NIH underscores the critical role that reference labs like Aegis can play in responding to the Public Health Emergency by expanding community access to accurate and timely testing,” said Dr. Frank Basile, Aegis’s Chief Executive Officer.
Testing results are reported to the State Departments of Health and to the CDC in accordance with applicable public health emergency response requirements. Aegis is accredited for all testing it performs under its College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation #8853197.
This project is supported by the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative and has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N92020C00022.
For more information and details about how you can access Aegis’s COVID-19 testing service, please visit www.aegislabs.com,email COVIDtest@aegislabs.comor call 615-99COVID (615.992.6843)
About Aegis Sciences Corporation
Founded in 1990, Aegis Sciences Corporation is a laboratory sciences company based in Nashville, TN, that provides science-driven testing and consulting services for clients such as healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, professional and amateur sports organizations, leading college and university athletic programs, Fortune 500 corporations, and government agencies throughout the United States. For more information please visit https://www.aegislabs.com/.
