NIH Issues New Contracts to Scale Up Capacity for COVID-19 Testing

The National Institutes of Health ( has announced a new round of contracts totaling $129.3 million to support new COVID-19 testing technologies.

The contracts are being granted to nine companies and support technologies that include portable point-of-care tests for immediate results and high-throughput laboratories that can return results within 24 hours.

One company is developing a novel, portable battery-powered reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test that provides results in 15 minutes, while another is working on a portable, reagent-flexible mini-lab that can perform RT-PCR tests in community hospitals and clinics.

 “The new technologies being funded … have the potential to transform the diagnostics landscape if their promise is proven in clinical studies,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir.