Verax Biomedical, Incorporated
Verax Biomedical is a privately held, venture backed medical products company, founded in 1999. The Company’s laboratory facilities are located in Marlborough, Massachusetts, just west of Boston. Our vision is to create rapid tests that are practical to implement as close to the time of transfusion or transplantation as possible, thus enabling the detection and elimination of these contaminated materials from the inventory prior to their use. The first application of PGD technology is a test for use during Quality Control testing for the presence of bacterial contamination in human platelets. The Company’s first product is the Platelet PGD Test — a rapid test for the detection of bacterial contamination in platelets.
Company details
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- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Medical Monitoring
- Market Focus:
- Nationally (across the country)
- Year Founded:
- 1999
About Us
Verax Biomedical was founded upon the singular vision of detecting bacterial contamination in cells and tissues intended for transfusion and transplantation. Recognizing that bacteria pose a unique infectious challenge in these life giving tissues, we realized that novel approaches to detection were called for. While these cellular materials are routinely tested for viral contaminants, bacteria have posed a long standing and heretofore poorly addressed challenge. Unlike viruses, bacteria can replicate outside of a living host, meaning they can grow in these cellular matrices during storage prior to transfusion or transplantation. This results in the unique dilemma of an infectious contaminant that can grow from unmeasurable low levels at the time of collection to massive levels at the time of transfusion or transplantation, posing a serious and often fatal risk to their recipient.
Our Solution
The Verax Platelet PGD test is the first test cleared by the FDA as a Safety Measure within 24 hours of transfusion of leukoreduced apheresis platelets that have been tested by a growth-based QC method cleared by the FDA for platelet components. It is sensitive, simple, rapid and practical for use in the hospital transfusion service setting, providing results in approximately 30 minutes.
By testing closer to the time of transfusion, the Platelet PGD Test offers the opportunity to detect and prevent the transfusion of bacterially contaminated platelet units that test falsely negative by existing QC testing methods. It is the first FDA cleared method for testing on the day of transfusion, offering the opportunity to address this significant risk to patient safety.