Although epidemiologists have offered reassurances that monkeypox is of far less concern than COVID-19 was when it first emerged over two years ago, the growing outbreak of cases has spurred an immediate, if not urgent need for new lab tests. As they did in the early days of COVID-19, test makers have responded to the demand for monkeypox tests in record time with Roche, Novacyt, and Eurofins’ Gold Standard Diagnostics launching new assays for the disease. And now some of the lab industry’s biggest players are teaming up to develop new monkeypox diagnostics of their own.

The Cepheid-BioGX Collaboration

On June 24, Cepheid and BioGX announced a collaboration to create a PCR assay for monkeypox on the former’s GeneXpert, a system with an installed base of over 40,000 instruments in 180 countries. The assay will be provided as part of Cepheid’s FleXible Cartridge for GeneXpert, the companies stated. “Our FleXible Cartridge program gives Cepheid the ability to work with external partners to develop accurate tests quickly when the need arises,” noted Cepheid executive vice president David Persing in a statement.

The external partner in this situation of need is BioGX, an Alabama-based supplier of lyophilized real-time PCR reagents for molecular diagnostics and subsidiary of the Dutch firm BioGX B.V. The firms have a track record of successful collaboration, having previously developed and manufactured a multiplex monkeypox and orthopoxvirus test for a GeneXpert-based study published in 2017 for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Becton Dickinson-CerTest Collaboration

About two weeks earlier, Becton Dickinson (BD) and Spanish molecular test maker CerTest Biotec announced their own collaboration to develop a PCR-based test for monkeypox to run on the BD Max System. The plan calls for using BD Max open system reagents to validate CerTest’s CE-IVD-marked Viasure Monkeypox molecular test. The firms will offer the resulting Monkeypox PCR Detection Kit for the BD Max in a lyophilized format that comes in a tube and snaps into the BD Max ExK TNA extraction kit.

Again, the firms have a history with each other. CerTest has previously created other assays for the BD Max, including assays for SARS-CoV-2 detection and variant monitoring, as well as a COVID-19/flu/RSV combination test.

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Here’s a summary of some of other key strategic diagnostic deals announced in June 2022:

Strategic Alliances, Partnerships, & Collaborations

Distribution, Sales, & Marketing Agreements

Licenses

Government Contracts