Nov 10, 2020
Canada to buy 7.6 million Becton Dickinson rapid COVID tests
, Bloomberg News
The Canadian government is buying 7.6 million rapid COVID-19 tests from diagnostics maker Becton Dickinson and Co., the company said on Tuesday.
Becton Dickinson’s test, which was cleared by regulator Health Canada last month, runs on the company’s cell-phone-sized Veritor Plus System and can return results in 15 minutes. Canada is also buying up to 2,172 of the analyzers. The antigen tests work by detecting proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2.
Becton Dickinson declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. Early shipments will likely begin in late November, ramping up through March, the company said.
“We think it’s a critical tool to support Canada as they start to implement their plans for a COVID-19 testing strategy,” said Dave Hickey, president of integrated diagnostic solutions at Becton Dickinson.
The pact shows how demand for speedy COVID-19 tests is ramping up globally as infections redouble. While Canada has fared better during the pandemic than the U.S., the country has grappled with a new surge in infections in recent weeks. As the pandemic pressures its testing system, the country has been criticized for not relying enough on rapid tests.
Canada Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said on Monday that of more than 264,000 confirmed cases in the country and about 10,500 deaths, nearly 40,000 infections are active ones. The country’s test-positivity rate was nearly 5 per cent in late October, she said, a threshold that indicates more cases are likely going uncounted.
The Becton Dickinson order follows purchases in late September and October by the Canadian government of millions of rapid tests from Abbott Laboratories.
The Dutch Ministry of Health purchased 9.2 million antigen tests from Becton Dickinson early this month, to be delivered through June. Becton Dickinson is manufacturing about 8 million of the assays monthly, with plans to increase capacity to 12 million each month by March.
About 470 of Becton Dickinson’s Veritor Plus system are already in use in Canada, largely to test for strep in pharmacies in the western part of the country.
