Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Recognized With Prestigious Edison Award for Highly Accurate COVID-19 Solutions Capable of Mass-Scale Testing

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, one of the world's largest pure-play in vitro diagnostics (IVD) companies, has been recognized with a prestigious silver 2021 Edison Award for its  VITROS® COVID-19 testing solutions, helping labs meet demands of the pandemic with reliable mass-scale testing options.

The Edison Awards is an annual competition honoring excellence in new product and service development, marketing, design and innovation. The awards committee recognized Ortho's VITROS® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Total and IgG Antibody Tests and VITROS® SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test in the Innovation subcategory for Accelerated Testing Solutions after reviewing more than 7,000 products and services and over 400 nominations for new products and services development. This is Ortho's fourth Edison Award.

"When the world needed highly accurate COVID-19 diagnostic solutions, Ortho leveraged over 80 years of experience in infectious disease and quickly launched three high-quality COVID-19 tests, enabling fast, accurate results health care teams, researchers, and government officials could trust," said Chockalingam Palaniappan, PhD, chief innovation officer, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. "We are honored to be recognized for our contribution to the pandemic and will continue to deliver solutions to help our customers and their patients understand this virus, immunity, and help aid reopening measures in the wake of vaccines."

Ortho was the first company to launch high-volume COVID-19 antibody and antigen tests with U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). In just 19 days, Ortho went from concept to launch of its COVID-19 total antibody test. Two weeks later, Ortho received EUA for its COVID-19 IgG antibody test. Both tests help clinicians understand whether a patient has been exposed to and developed antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and offer 100% specificity, providing an extremely high level of confidence for both patients and clinicians, and have CE Mark.

Ortho's third COVID-19 solution, the VITROS® SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test, helps confirm whether a patient has an active infection by detecting viral proteins in swab samples. The test, the first high-throughput antigen test with EUA, has utility for mass-scale testing and delivers same-day results to help hospitals and reference labs address issues of testing backlogs, supply shortages and delayed results. The test also received CE Mark in November 2020.

This is the fourth Edison Award for the company, dedicated to delivering accurate test results, efficient and reliable instruments, easy-to-use technology and continuous collaboration to ensure customers are achieving the most important measure of success: exceptional patient care. Ortho was previously recognized with Edison Awards in 2020 for its VITROS® XT Solutions, in 2018 for its VITROS® NEPHROCHECK® Test and in 2017 for the ORTHO VISION™ Platform.

"We were very impressed by the level of collaboration and discovery in this year's entries," said Edison Universe Executive Director Frank Bonafilia. "Somehow, while facing the unprecedented challenges of this global pandemic, companies around the world figured out how to work safely and smartly and still innovate at an award-winning level."

About Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (NASDAQ: OCDX) is one of the world's largest pure-play in vitro diagnostics (IVD) companies.  

More than 800,000 patients across the world are impacted by Ortho's tests each day. Because Every Test is a Life™, Ortho provides hospitals, hospital networks, clinical laboratories, and blood banks around the globe with innovative IVD technologies to ensure that test results are fast, accurate and reliable. Ortho helps its customers enhance clinical outcomes, improve efficiency, overcome staffing challenges and reduce costs.  

As a pioneering leader in IVD for more than over 80 years, Ortho launched the first product to determine Rh+ or Rh- blood type, developed the world's first tests for the detection of antibodies against HIV and hepatitis C, introduced patented dry-slide technology, and was the first company to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization for a high-volume antibody and antigen test for COVID-19.  

The company is known industry-wide for Ortho Care™, its holistic customer support program which ensures technical, field and remote service and inventory support in more than 130 countries and territories. 

About The Edison Awards

Over the last 34 years, being recognized with an Edison Award has become one of the highest accolades a product can receive in the name of innovation success. The awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) whose inventions, new product development methods, and innovative achievements changed the world. The Edison Awards are operated by Edison Universe, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission of recognizing, honoring and fostering innovations and innovators, and are hosted in Fort Myers, Florida.