Tetracore, Inc. Introduces First USDA-Licensed Real-Time PCR Test for the Detection of African Swine Fever Virus in Swine Whole Blood and Spleen Samples

Tetracore, Inc. (Tetracore) announced today the licensing of their VetAlert™ African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) DNA Diagnostic Test Kit by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB). It is the first USDA licensed diagnostic product for ASFV and is manufactured in the United States, critical for a rapid response in the event of an ASF outbreak.  Additionally, this diagnostic Kit provides animal health first responders with a critical tool to mitigate the potentially catastrophic economic and animal welfare impacts of an ASFV outbreak.

The VetAlert ASFV DNA high-performance test Kit was developed by Tetracore scientists and will be commercialized and sold by Tetracore.

"It is well-known that viruses mutate and evolve, and for this reason, established PCR test designs should be periodically re-evaluated to ensure that the test designs remain fit for purpose", says Dr. Callahan, Business Development Manager and USDA CVB liaison for Tetracore. With this in mind, Tetracore evaluated contemporary ASFV viral sequences as well as sequences to the 24 known ASFV genotypes to design a new primer-probe set that was blended with our original test to create an updated ASFV rPCR, the VetAlert ASFV DNA Test Kit.

The updated test design was validated in studies with multiple study partners including: (1) Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional De Investigaciones Agrarias (CISA-INIA, Spain); (2) The National Veterinary Institute (SVA, Sweden); (3) Sciensano (Belgium); and other International and US laboratories, where the test demonstrated equivalent performance compared to the reference test methods used by the study partners.

About Tetracore, Inc.

Tetracore is a biotechnology company specializing in the development and manufacture of diagnostic devices and assays for the detection of infectious diseases. Located in the Biotechnology Corridor in Rockville, Maryland. Tetracore was founded in 1998 by former United Nations Special Commission biological weapons inspectors and scientists of the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. 

Source: Tetracore, Inc.