Becton, Dickinson and Company announced their newly developed molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the monkeypox virus is now commercially available outside of the United States for use in research applications by laboratories. The assay leveraged the BD MAX™ System open system reagent suite to develop the CerTest VIASURE Monkeypox molecular test on the BD MAX™ System. The BD MAX™ System is a fully integrated, automated platform that performs nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR providing results for up to 24 samples across multiple syndromes in less than three hours.

BD offers an extensive menu of tests on the system covering health care associated infections, respiratory infections, sexually transmitted infections, gastrointestinal infections and women's health. BD offers a suite of open system reagents for the BD MAX™ System that enables labs to fully automate and streamline their Lab Developed Tests. As with all CerTest tests, the Monkeypox PCR Detection Kit for the BD MAX™ System is offered in a lyophilized format.

Accordingly, the test will come in a tube that snaps into the test-specific position on the BD MAX™ ExK™ TNA extraction strip, which is supplied by BD.