Shares of Fluidigm Corp (FLDM) skyrockets 52% on COVID-19 coronavirus microfluidics technology and has executed a letter of contract with NIH and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for a contract valued as high as $12M, based on certain deliverables, aimed at expanding production and throughput capacities for COVID-19 testing using the company’s microfluidics technology.
The funds are available under NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program that fast tracks the development and commercialization of innovative technologies that boost U.S. testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2. Its primary goal is to enable the processing of ~6M tests per day in the U.S. by December.
The company’s microfluidics technology is the basis for several COVID-19 assays designed to run on its high-throughput Biomark HD system.
The RADx program fast-tracks development and commercialization of innovative technologies to significantly increase U.S. testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Fluidigm microfluidics technology is the basis for several COVID-19 test assays designed to be run on the Fluidigm Biomark™ HD system.
A goal of the RADx initiative is to enable approximately 6 million daily tests in the United States by December 2020, many times the current daily testing rate. The Fluidigm project targets a production capacity of more than one million COVID-19 tests per day by the end of the first quarter of 2021. Actual production volumes may vary based on market demand and other factors.
As of July 30, 640 applications for RADx support had been submitted, with seven projects, including Fluidigm, advancing in the current round of contracts to the final, Phase 2 segment of the RADx selection process. Phase 2 includes completing the validation, approval and production processes in order to deliver a viable product in a scaled-up capacity to the U.S. public.
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