HHS Funds Two Diagnostic Laboratories

HHS has awarded $6.5 million in grants to two commercial diagnostic laboratories to expand their operating capacities to increase COVID-19 test processing.

The agency said the grant to Aegis Sciences is to expand its lab workforce and construct new facility space at its Nashville, Tenn., testing plant. Sonic Healthcare will use the funding to ramp up testing at eight sites.

Aegis has set a goal of processing more than 60,000 test samples per day starting next month, and it will return results within two days for samples from areas with vulnerable populations, HHS said.