BD Announces Assay for Immune Assessment of COVID-19 Patients
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BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), today announced the CE mark and European availability of a product for assessing immune function in COVID-19 patients.
The BD Multitest™ 6-Color TBNK Reagent with BD Trucount™ Tubes has been CE marked with expanded clinical application for the identification and enumeration of T-cell subtypes in COVID-19 patients, an innovation in helping clinicians better understand patient immune response to COVID-19 disease. Data from the first global wave of COVID-19 have shown that patients typically exhibit a remarkable decrease of CD4 and/or CD8 lymphocyte counts with increasing disease severity.
Accurate counts of T-cell subsets may be critical in informing the clinical course of action because T-cells are essential for viral killing and antibody response. The BD Multitest™ 6-Color TBNK Reagent with BD Trucount™ Tubes leverages time-tested technology for immune assessment and enables clinicians to go beyond the complete blood count (CBC) to better understand the underlying mechanisms for severity in COVID-19 patients, especially those with co-morbidities. This test has been used for more than a decade to assess immune function in HIV patients and may now also help clinicians better understand COVID-19 patient immune response, and when used in conjunction with clinical findings and laboratory testing, inform patient treatment plans and prioritize precious resources.
“The availability of this product with the expanded clinical application in COVID-19 patients is an important step in helping clinicians better understand how patient immune systems are responding to COVID-19 infection,” said Puneet Sarin, worldwide president, Biosciences at BD, “BD is a trusted partner in immunology research and clinical care with a long history helping clinicians and patients better understand immune function to make patient care decisions. Bringing this expertise to clinicians treating COVID-19 patients presents a great opportunity to enable deeper immune assessment of patients, which could lead to improved uses of precious resources within a hospital while helping get patients on the right clinical path.”
The BD Multitest™ 6-Color TBNK Reagent with BD Trucount™ Tubes is used in conjunction with the BD FACSLyric™ and BD FACSCanto™ II Clinical Flow Cytometers and the BD FACSLyric™/BD FACSDuet™ Sample-to-Answer Solution, which enables automated processing of samples, removing any unnecessary exposure to lab personnel.
