LGC’s ValuPanel Reagents help public laboratories detect SARS-CoV-2 and influenza

LGC, Biosearch Technologies today announces the release of a new set of ValuPanel™ Reagents to help the efforts of public health laboratories to detect SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and influenza B.

The CDC Influenza SARS-CoV-2 (Flu SC2) Multiplex ValuPanel Reagents – which are for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures – consists of probes and primers for multiplex RT-PCR detection and allows discrimination of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and influenza B from a single patient sample.

Mark Dearden, Managing Director, Genomics, LGC, said, “LGC was one of the first companies to support the initial US public health response to COVID-19, partnering with the CDC to provide oligonucleotides used to support the CDC 2019-nCoV Real-Time PCR Diagnostic Panel. The CDC Flu SC2 Multiplex ValuPanel has been added to our growing line of ValuPanel Reagents, which includes our US CDC 2019-nCoV ValuPanel, the Charité 2019-nCoV BHQ™/BBQ-650™ ValuPanel, and our recently-released Yale 2019-nCoV SalivaDirect™ ValuPanel.”

“In today’s crisis, LGC’s core purpose of Science for a Safer World could not be more relevant and important. We are involved in many aspects of the global response, doing everything we can to accelerate delivery and scale our capacity and output in order to deliver these critical testing supplies and help our customers ramp up their testing capability.”

The ValuPanel Reagents were designed to match the sequences and performance of the probes and primers from the CDC’s Flu SC2 Multiplex Assay, which was granted EUA in July 2020.

Each line of ValuPanel Reagents consists of separately delivered probes and primers, which allow assay flexibility and sizes that can help facilitate scale-up. The full portfolio offers additional components across the PCR workflow, including master mix and enzymes manufactured in an ISO13485-certified facility and extraction reagents.

LGC is the inventor of specific chemistries, such as Black Hole Quencher™ (BHQ™), BlackBerry™ Quencher (BBQ-650™) and other critical dyes and components for diagnostic kit developers. It has previously provided detection solutions for viruses including seasonal influenza, H1N1 (swine flu), Chikungunya, Zika, and Ebola and also has CDC-qualified lots of SARS-CoV-2 probe and primer kits available for sale. Each kit contains enough material for 1,000 reactions, equivalent to 1,000 tests.

LGC’s probes and primers are manufactured and shipped from a facility entirely separate from positive control production to protect the integrity of customer COVID-19 workflows.