A Medical Device Daily

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, California) reported that it has entered into a five-year master purchase order with Northrop Grumman (Los Angeles) for the purchase of up to $200 million in Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) test cartridges and associated materials. The anthrax test is currently used in Biohazard Detection Systems (BDS), installed at United States Postal Service (USPS) mail processing centers nationwide. The agreement covers the USPS fiscal years of 2007 through 2011. Cepheid began supplying USPS with GeneXpert modules and anthrax test cartridges in 2003.

The purchase quantity of anthrax tests will be determined on an annual basis, based on the USPS fiscal year of October 1 through September 30. Cepheid has received notice that expected test purchases for fiscal 2008 will be approximately 2 million cartridges.

The GeneXpert modules and anthrax test cartridges serve as the foundation of the BDS system. The BDS system rapidly analyzes air samples taken from the mail sorting systems in order to detect any potential trace levels of DNA from anthrax spores as mail travels through the mail processing equipment.

Cepheid is an on-demand molecular diagnostics company that develops fully-integrated systems for genetic analysis in the clinical, industrial and biothreat markets. Northrop Grumman is a global technology and defense company.

In grants news: U.S. researchers are studying ways to use super-small nanoparticles to easily deliver painkillers to injured soldiers.

The team at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) says it has received a $1.3 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to conduct the study.

The goal is to develop tiny painkiller-bearing particles that can be injected with a pen-like device that can be used by injured soldiers’ comrades, or even injured soldiers themselves, on the battlefield. Ideally, the devices would provide safe and effective pain relief until a wounded soldier could receive more expert medical help.

“This proposal provides an approach to achieve sustained, safe pain control on the battlefield,” research team leader James Baker Jr., director of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences, said.

“It uses different medicines coupled to polymers to release drugs and antidotes to provide adequate pain relief while avoiding complications. If successful, it could markedly improve the treatment of soldiers in the field,” Baker said.