Thermo Fisher Launches Highly Automated PCR Solution For COVID-19 Testing - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) said Wednesday it has unveiled a new highly automated, real-time PCR solution designed to analyze up to 6,000 samples in a single day, to meet increasing global demand for COVID-19 testing.

According to the company, the high-throughput system enables laboratories to double or even triple their testing capacity to support global efforts to return communities back to work and school.

The Thermo Fisher Scientific Amplitude Solution is a molecular diagnostic testing system that leverages the company's Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 7 Flex Real-time PCR instruments along with liquid handling products from Tecan Group, a provider of laboratory automation and liquid handling services.

The modular solution delivers test results in a four-step process requiring minimal hands-on time, laboratory space and staffing resources, Thermo Fisher noted.

The Amplitude Solution utilizes Thermo Fisher's Applied Biosystems TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit, a multiplex diagnostic test that contains the assays and controls needed for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Thermo Fisher said it will submit this new end-to-end solution to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Emergency Use Authorization or EUA and plans to secure additional authorizations globally.

The system also includes instruments from Tecan's Fluent Laboratory Workstation family, the highest-performance platform within its portfolio of liquid-handling solutions for laboratory automation. The Fluent instruments will be supplied through Tecan's Partnering Business.

Thermo Fisher said that as part of this offering, customers of Amplitude Solution will enter into a supply agreement with the company to secure an up-front, confirmed and reliable supply of reagents and consumables.