PathGroup, one of the largest private providers of pathology, clinical and molecular laboratory services in the United States, today announced the award of a funding grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx SM) program. PathGroup will utilize the funds granted by the NIH to expand its high-throughput COVID-19 testing laboratory, becoming one of the nation's "mega-labs" with the capability of performing up to 80,000 SARS-CoV-2 tests per day for COVID-19, with results expected to be delivered within 24 hours.
The RADxSM initiative supports the development, production scale-up, and deployment of accurate, rapid SARS-CoV-2 tests across the country. The RADx-Advanced Technology Platforms (RADx-ATP) program assists in the expansion of labs that can significantly scale the number of COVID-19 tests that can be performed each day in the United States.
"We recognize the urgent need and demand for fast and accurate COVID-19 test results to continue to control and slow the spread of this pandemic," said Ben W. Davis, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of PathGroup. "PathGroup is proud to be selected by the NIH RADxSM initiative to expand our industry-leading testing with 24-hour turnaround times, bringing ultra-high throughput testing capacity from some of the world's leading diagnostic manufacturers to our clinician partners and the patients we collectively serve."
PathGroup currently has the capacity to perform up to 14,000 COVID-19 tests per day and has existing infrastructure in 25 U.S. states across the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Through partnerships with multiple testing vendors and platforms, PathGroup will deploy additional instruments and automation technology to scale its COVID-19 testing capacity, reaching 80,000 tests per day, with an expected turnaround time of 24 hours.
Nashville-based PathGroup provides comprehensive COVID-19 testing services for hospitals, physician offices, state and local departments of health, employers, and school systems, including both molecular diagnostic and antibody testing. All of PathGroup's testing is performed on platforms that have received FDA Emergency Use Authorization.
For additional information about PathGroup's COVID-19 testing capabilities, please visit the company's online Directory of Services or contact Brent Sower at 615.234.3908 or COVID19testing@pathgroup.com.
This project is supported by the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative and has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N92020C00024.