The BD Veritor Plus System, a rapid, point-of-care, SARS-CoV-2 antigen test from Becton, Dickinson and Co (BD), Franklin Lakes, NJ, has been authorized for use by Health Canada under an interim order. This authorization has been accompanied by an order from the Canadian government for 7.6 million tests through March 2021 to support Canada’s planning for an advanced covid-19 testing strategy.

“The Government of Canada continues to work diligently to provide Canadians with access to effective and efficient covid-19 testing solutions,” says Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand. “This new agreement with BD is critical to assisting the provinces and territories in their respective efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. We will continue to support Canadians through the covid-19 pandemic.”

The new test delivers results in approximately 15 minutes on an easy-to-use, portable instrument, which is a critical improvement in turnaround time for covid-19 diagnostics, because it provides real-time results and enables decision-making while the patient is still onsite. This test is designed to be performed at the point-of-care, reducing the burden on testing laboratories. The test uses a midnasal swab to collect patient samples, which is less invasive for the patient than nasopharyngeal sample collection. 

“As the demands for SARS-CoV-2 testing are increasing in Canada, we are excited to bring another testing solution to the Canadian market,” says Greg Miziolek, president of BD-Canada. “The ability to perform SARS-CoV-2 testing at the point-of-care and deliver results while the patient waits will be truly impactful to help relieve some of the pressures on the testing labs and quickly identify affected patients. We applaud the federal government for their proactive approach in planning for future needs with a centralized order for antigen detection tests. We look forward to partnering with Canada’s provincial health authorities to optimize the deployment of the BD Verito™ Plus System to meet regional and local public health needs.” 

The test, which received Health Canada authorization in early October, has been available in the United States since July through an FDA emergency use authorization.

The test uses the BD Veritor Plus System, which is already in use in Canada to detect influenza A+B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and group A strep. The BD Veritor Plus System, which has a slightly larger footprint than a mobile phone, offers an easy-to-use workflow that makes it an ideal solution for point-of-care settings. It also offers customers traceability and reporting capabilities through the optional BD Synapsys informatics solution. BD has also been supporting SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing (RT-PCR) in Canadian labs on the BD Max System.

For more information, visit BD.