Thermo Fisher Scientific have received a contract from the U.S. government to provide specialized test tubes or viral transport media (VTM) for COVID-19 sample collection. The VTM is used during collection of patient samples for proper transport to laboratories that can test for the presence of the virus.
VTM must be manufactured and dispensed into tubes in an aseptic environment. Thermo Fisher currently produces VTM at its site in Lenexa, Kansas, which meets this requirement, and has ramped production from 50,000 to more than one million VTM-filled tubes per week.
Thermo Fisher plans to expand capacity in Lenexa with a new $40 million facility dedicated to VTM production and quality control. The company plans to complete the new Lenexa facility in Q3 and expects that it will create approximately 300 new full-time jobs.
Read the Thermo Fisher release