The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week announced intentions to award a sole source contract to AbD Serotec, a Bio-Rad company, to support anthrax diagnostics development.
The company will conduct Human Fab (Fragment Antigen Binding) generation and production against Anthrax Lethal Factor. The contract includes an option for either large-scale production of Fabs or conversion of optimal Fab pairs into full length human IgG1 monoclonal antibodies and performance of large scale production of full-length IgG1.
The materials will be used to increase sensitivity and specificity in a Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Lethal Factor and an Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) plate-based assay for anthrax toxins.
The acquisition is on behalf of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Bacterial Diseases’ Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch (MVPDB), Microbial Pathogenesis and Immune Response (MPIR) Laboratory.