Tetracore teams up with USDA to provide ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits

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Tetracore, Inc has partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to supply a stock of PCR kits for both African Swine Fever (ASF) and Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD).

According to a company release,¹ the kits were purchased for use in the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank to prepare the US for potential outbreak of a high-consequence Foreign Animal Disease (FAD). Tetracore's VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits are the only USDA licensed PCR kits for these diseases and are essential to minimizing the devastating impacts if a FAD outbreak were to occur.

ASF’s presence in the Dominican Republic poses a potential danger to the welfare of food production in the United States. Outbreaks of FMD and ASF can cause detrimental economic consequences for the livestock industry. Readily available, accurate, and validated diagnostics are necessary and an immediate surge of incoming samples to animal health testing laboratories would quickly exhaust available countermeasures. To address the need for laboratory surge capacity in an outbreak scenario, the USDA has asked Tetracore to stock its USDA-licensed test kits for FMD and ASF.

The VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits have been updated with the latest viral sequences so the test remains fit for purpose. These tests have been validated in studies with various reference laboratories.¹ The VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits were created and commercialized by Tetracore scientists and are sold exclusively by Tetracore.

Reference

Tetracore announces USDA purchase of ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits. News release. Tetracore, Inc. February 15, 2023. Accessed February 15, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tetracore-announces-usda-purchase-of-asf-and-fmd-diagnostic-test-kits-301747975.html