Business
Quidel Opens New Manufacturing Facility to Mass Produce QuickVue® Rapid Antigen Tests for COVID-19
Carlsbad, CA facility aims to reach a run rate of 600 million QuickVue® tests per year by end of 2021 Future plans call for production of numerous popular
About this update from Quidelortho Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\nCarlsbad, CA facility aims to reach a run rate of 600 million QuickVue® tests per year by end of 2021\n\nFuture plans call for production of numerous popular QuickVue® diagnostic tests to serve the emerging at-home testing market\n\n SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nQuidel Corporation (NASDAQ: QDEL) (“Quidel”), a leading provider of rapid diagnostic testing solutions, cellular-based virology assays and molecular diagnostic systems, today announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Carlsbad, CA that will be dedicated to the production of Quidel’s popular QuickVue® line of products. The 128,000 square-foot facility will be the company’s highest-volume production plant in the world and begins operations in the second half of 2021 with a mission to produce 600 million QuickVue® SARS rapid antigen tests per year for the detection and diagnosis of COVID-19 infections.\n\nQuidel plans to install multiple manufacturing lines at the Carlsbad facility and hire approximately 400 new employees with a mission to scale Quidel’s operations from 50 million QuickVue® tests per year to 50 million tests per month at full capacity, including non-COVID-19 diagnostic assays currently in-market or under development. The company is actively hiring to fill open positions including engineers, chemists, technicians, manufacturing, purchasing, sourcing and support services.\n\n“From the first days of the pandemic, Quidel has stepped up to meet the COVID-19 challenge head-on with innovative diagnostic technologies to detect coronavirus infections and expanded manufacturing to democratize access to affordable and high-quality testing,” said Douglas Bryant, president and CEO of Quidel Corporation. “The opening of our massive new QuickVue® manufacturing plant is our boldest move yet and is expected to provide Quidel with the scale necessary to serve the needs of communities and institutions for frequent testing now and for years to come.”\n\nQuidel received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its QuickVue® SARS Antigen Test for COVID-19 in December. The company’s QuickVue® lateral-flow technology is visually read by the user and provides results in 10 minutes from nasal swab samples. Initial applications for QuickVue® COVID-19 tests range from hospitals and physician offices to schools and pharmaci...