Thermo Fisher Gets U.S. Contract For Products Used In COVID-19 Sample Collection

(RTTNews) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) said Monday that it has received a contract from the U.S. government to provide highly specialized viral transport media or 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.

Thermo Fisher currently produces VTM at its site in Lenexa, Kansas, and has ramped production from 50,000 to more than one million VTM-filled tubes per week.

The company stated that it will expand capacity in Lenexa with a new $40 million facility dedicated to VTM production and quality control. The added capacity and increased efficiencies will allow the company to scale production to more than eight million VTM-filled tubes per week.

The company plans to complete the new Lenexa facility in third-quarter and expects that it will create about 300 new full-time jobs.