BD Diagnostics Announces Multi-Year Agreement With Quest Diagnostics for BD Viper System

BALTIMORE -- BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), today announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Quest Diagnostics to supply instrumentation and reagents for testing and diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

"We are pleased that the BD Viper platform has met the challenging quality and automation standards at Quest," commented Bill Kozy, president of BD Diagnostics.  "Our ongoing commitment to offer molecular testing that is easier and more efficient is a key element of our goals to expand our molecular position."

This enterprise-wide adoption of the BD Viper System by Quest Diagnostics takes full advantage of the BD Viper System's robust industrial-class robotic design.  Pipetting, incubations, amplification and detection all occur on the deck of the BD Viper System, with the majority of labor delegated to the robot.  The BD Viper System minimizes technologist hands-on-time, enabling walkaway or "load and go" workflow.  The new system is expected to help facilitate rapid turn-around of test results and provide more flexibility in sample types for testing.

The BD Viper System incorporates a Selective Compliance Assembly Robotic Arm (SCARA) robot that delivers extremely robust performance by eliminating all pumps, syringes and reagent tubing, a major weakness of earlier-generation molecular automation.  The BD Viper System automates most of the manual and semi-automated steps of the BD ProbeTec System, which utilizes the proven chemistry of BD's proprietary Strand Displacement Amplification (SDA) that has been embraced by leading laboratories worldwide.  The isothermal, real-time amplification and detection offered by SDA has greatly simplified complex molecular testing and made this technology more accessible to clinical laboratories.

Early and accurate diagnosis of chlamydia and gonorrhea leads to more timely and effective treatment, reduces the potential for the further spread of infection and helps ensure better patient outcomes.  Left undetected and untreated in women, chlamydia can lead to infertility, tubal pregnancy and debilitating pelvic pain.

Source: BD Diagnostics