The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response this week announced a $4.1 million agreement with Hologic, Inc. to advance the development of a blood screening test that will help detect the presence of Zika in the blood supply.
Under the one-year agreement, Hologic will advance the development of its Procleix Zika Virus Assay, which is designed to detect Zika virus ribonucleic acid (RNA) in donated blood plasma.
The contract could be extended up to a total of 18 months and $6.2 million to support the clinical study to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the blood donation screening test in its actual use, which is necessary before it may be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for commercial marketing if additional funding were identified for this activity.
Read also: FDA Grants Emergency Use Authorization for Hologic’s Aptima Zika Virus Assay
The test was granted investigational new device status on June 17 by the FDA. The Procleix Zika Virus Assay detects Zika virus RNA up to seven days post-infection in plasma from individuals who live in or have visited areas of active Zika transmission. The test runs on Hologic’s Panther automated system, which is FDA-cleared for some infectious disease in vitro diagnostic testing and which accepts both random access and continuous load testing of blood samples.
“Accurate blood-screening tools are vital to protecting our nation’s blood supply from Zika. This test may provide another tool laboratories can use to identify infected blood donations to help ensure patients’ safety,” said Dr. Richard Hatchett, BARDA’s acting director. “At the same time, we are pursuing promising diagnostic tools, and vaccines to identify and prevent Zika virus infections.”
This is the second blood screening test ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is helping advance that may be used to test donated blood for Zika. In April, ASPR announced support of a clinical study of a Zika blood screening test developed by Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. of Branchburg, New Jersey, to confirm whether that test accurately detects the virus in donor blood.
Read also: Human Trial of Zika Vaccine Begins
To respond to the Zika virus outbreak, HHS repurposed $374 million for domestic Zika response and preparedness activities. As of August, HHS agencies have obligated $222 million of these repurposed funds. ASPR’s BARDA received $85 million of these reprogrammed funds, and with today’s award, BARDA has obligated $41.4 million of these reprogrammed funds to develop Zika vaccines, diagnostics, blood screening tests, and pathogen reduction technologies through private sector partners. In addition, ASPR is providing Zika-positive blood samples to developers to overcome a hurdle in validating the accuracy of new diagnostic tests.
