Worcester-based Verax Biomedical Inc. has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for acceptance of a test that could detect bacterial contamination in blood in as little as 30 minutes.
According to Verax, its new Platelet PGD test is “substantially equivalent” to other FDA-approved bacteria-detection tests with one clear difference.
Those other tests can take as long as three days to detect bacterial contamination in platelets. Verax contends that its Platelet PGD test can do the same in about a half-hour.
Abbott Diagnostics has already signed a worldwide exclusive agreement to market and distribute the Platelet PGD test, and British Biocell International has also signed a ten-year contract with Verax to manufacture the test.
The test would be used to detect contamination in blood before transfusions.
