Company’s RT-PCR kits and workflow solutions will help to significantly increase capacity of the UK’s testing program

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, has announced that the first Turnkey Lighthouse lab in Newport, South Wales, is now processing COVID-19 testing samples as part of the Company’s collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in support of the UK Government’s Test and Trace strategy.

The Newport lab is the first facility to be brought online by PerkinElmer with the DHSC. DHSC and PerkinElmer are collaborating to create an additional testing facility at Charnwood in Leicestershire as well as supplying testing capabilities, equipment and reagents to NHS Trusts across the UK.

The Newport facility began processing its first samples on Monday, October 5th and is expected to deliver up to 20,000 samples daily by the end of October with PerkinElmer’s SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kits and workflow solutions. The Charnwood lab is expected to be in operation by the end of November and will be able to process up to 50,000 tests daily upon reaching full capacity in January 2021.

The Newport lab has already created 200 new jobs with Charnwood on target to generate more than 400 roles. 

“It is imperative to have a dedicated testing strategy that rapidly identifies individuals carrying the virus, and we’re pleased to have the Newport facility to help fulfill this mission,” said Miles Burrows, managing director UK & Ireland, PerkinElmer. “Our best-in-class technologies combined with our turnkey approach are ideally suited to align with DHSC’s desire to ramp up testing. Laboratories across the UK will be able to maintain maximum capacity, while also being able to quickly respond to evolving public health needs.”

DHSC laboratories are processing more than one million COVID-19 tests a week as new facilities and technologies enable faster processing.

PerkinElmer is utilizing its chemagic™ 360 instruments and JANUS® G3 PCR+ Workstations in these UK labs to automate PerkinElmer’s RNA extraction and RT-PCR tests. This total workflow solution enables rapid sample processing at higher volumes, helping to decrease turnaround time. PerkinElmer’s OneSource® services and PerkinElmer Genomics operations enable this turnkey approach to provide sample testing in order to meet the Government’s immediate and future COVID-19 testing requirements.

PerkinElmer is actively working with specialty and reference diagnostic labs, clinics, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical labs, academia, and governmental and research institutes to battle the pandemic. PerkinElmer’s comprehensive SARS-COV-2 offerings span high throughput RNA extraction, RT-PCR, automation, ELISA, chemiluminescence, time-resolved fluorescence and lateral flow based serology testing. Its ELISA offerings are available through EUROIMMUN, a PerkinElmer company.

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About PerkinElmer

PerkinElmer enables scientists, researchers, and clinicians to address their most critical challenges across science and healthcare. With a mission focused on innovating for a healthier world, we deliver unique solutions to serve the diagnostics, life sciences, food, and applied markets. We strategically partner with customers to enable earlier and more accurate insights supported by deep market knowledge and technical expertise. Our dedicated team of about 13,000 employees worldwide is passionate about helping customers work to create healthier families, improve the quality of life, and sustain the wellbeing and longevity of people globally. The Company reported revenue of approximately $2.9 billion in 2019, serves customers in 190 countries, and is a component of the S&P 500 index.

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