AUSTIN, Texas, March 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminex
Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX) today announced that the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization
(EUA) for its NxTAG® CoV Extended Panel. The
intended use of this multiplex test is the detection of the
SARS-CoV-2 virus. High complexity molecular laboratories can now
use the NxTAG test on Luminex's easy-to-use, compact
MAGPIX® System to rapidly detect the virus that causes
COVID-19 disease for up to 96 patients in approximately 4 hours.
The MAGPIX System, on which the NxTAG panel runs,
utilizes Luminex's unique bead-based chemistry, which makes the
system both easy to run and to use. This combination provides a
cost-effective testing solution for the rapid delivery of test
results.
Luminex responded to the coronavirus outbreak by developing the
NxTAG CoV Extended Panel as a high-throughput,
scalable, cost-effective option for detecting SARS-CoV-2. To
provide a more complete picture of a patient's respiratory health,
the NxTAG CoV Extended Panel can also be run in
parallel with the NxTAG® Respiratory Pathogen Panel
(RPP). Luminex is actively supporting laboratories in the US,
Asia, and Europe with their testing, and the company has
expanded its manufacturing capacity to produce up to 300,000 NxTAG
tests per month, with the majority of that capacity focused on
SARS-CoV-2.
"We are partnering with our customers at clinical laboratories
to address the global pandemic, providing fast, reliable, scalable,
multiplexed tests that can help stem the spread of COVID-19
disease, while also ensuring that our tests are cost-effective,"
said Nachum "Homi" Shamir, President and CEO of Luminex.
"While there are many companies providing tests that can detect the
SARS-CoV-2 strain, to our knowledge Luminex is the only company
providing tests that can detect and differentiate between
SARS-CoV-2 and the other common respiratory infections, while
keeping price below government reimbursement levels to make testing
more affordable for our customers and the healthcare
system."
Earlier this week, Luminex received $642K in funding (approximately 36% of the total
program cost) through a contract from the Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop and validate
the NxTAG SARS-CoV-2 Test. "We are grateful to BARDA for reviewing
and issuing this contract so quickly," said Shamir. "Our
collaboration has been an important aspect to accelerating the
availability of this rapid, high-throughput assay."
This project has been funded in whole or in part 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
No. 75A50120C00037.
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 for the first
quarter, 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 "can," "easy," 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 Contact:
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