BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics, a One Health and One World company developing vaccines and diagnostic tools for global public health and zoonosis concerns, today announced it has been named “Diagnostics Company of the Year” in the second annual BioTech Breakthrough Awards program. BioTech Breakthrough is a leading independent market intelligence organization that evaluates and recognizes standout life sciences and biotechnology companies, products, and services around the globe.
“We’re deeply honored to receive this recognition. Our goal is to improve the delivery of molecular diagnostics to serve critical unmet needs in both the developed and developing world,” said Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics President Jeff Fischer. “Since 2006, we have been developing products in preparation for a universal pandemic. From the Covid-19 pandemic to the rise in RSV, influenza, and tuberculosis cases today, our products allow public health officials and medical personnel to have the tools to achieve the medical outcomes they expect no matter the situation—and be prepared for the next infectious disease.”
“The testing for pathogens such as influenza as well as any antimicrobial resistance, has rapidly transitioned from live culture—which is time consuming—to molecular testing. Live culture often requires complex biological containment facilities and can take days or weeks. Meanwhile, molecular testing is significantly faster, highly sensitive, and once the sample is properly inactivated, can be done in a variety of healthcare settings,” said Managing Director of BioTech Breakthrough Awards Bryan Vaughn. “Longhorn’s unique diagnostic solutions thrive in a wide variety of environments, helping to diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as influenza and most recently SARS-CoV-2 and Monkeypox. We offer a heartfelt congratulations on being our choice for ‘Diagnostics Company of the Year!’”
Longhorn develops diagnostic tools and vaccines for worldwide public health concerns that government agencies and healthcare organizations can use to provide surveillance, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases in both humans and animals. Longhorn’s diagnostic tools are optimized for molecular testing at every stage, starting at the sample collection site and continuing through the cold chain to ensure molecular diagnostics can be used throughout the developed and developing world.
Longhorn’s core product, PrimeStore Molecular Transport Medium (PrimeStore MTM®) inactivates pathogens while the core DNA and RNA of the pathogen is preserved so that it can be mapped for testing and ensures that handling by labs is safer because samples are rendered non-infectious. It is designed to help governments, global health organizations and drug manufacturers improve the diagnosis and treatment of highly infectious diseases.
In early 2020, Longhorn was contacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Human & Health Services Covid-19 diagnostic team and asked to rapidly expand production to address the dire shortage of Covid-19 sample collection kits. Longhorn managed the process of increasing production of PrimeStore MTM from tens of thousands of units each year pre-pandemic, to over 50 million units in a span of months.
Since then, Longhorn has produced more than 60 million PrimeStore MTM devices, which have been provided to the U.S. and foreign governments, hospital groups, and laboratories to ensure adequate, high quality sample collection around the world.
Currently, Longhorn is expanding its diagnostic division towards testing supplies for African swine fever, avian influenza, and a wide range of pathogens and sample types with the goal of preventing the spread of contagious viruses. As just one example, the United States Department of Agriculture recently expanded its use of PrimeStore MTM to facilitate the tracking and surveillance of the Avian influenza strain that is making its way through the U.S. poultry population.
The mission of the annual BioTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the top companies, solutions and products in the life sciences and biotechnology industry today. This year’s program attracted more than 1,350 nominations from over 12 different countries throughout the world.
About Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics LLC
Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics LLC is a One Health and One World company based in Maryland that is developing vaccines and diagnostic tools for worldwide public health concerns and to prevent future pandemics. Since its inception in 2006, Longhorn has focused on developing vaccines and diagnostic tools that can impact a pandemic on a global scale and at all socio-economic levels. Since pandemics flow between humans and animals, Longhorn caters to both in order to surveil, diagnose, prevent and treat the next infectious disease.
Longhorn’s core diagnostic product, PrimeStore® Molecular Transport Medium (MTM), is a patented, FDA cleared, state-of-the-art ambient temperature molecular diagnostic collection and transport device that can help governments, global health organizations, and drug manufacturers improve the diagnosis and treatment of highly infectious diseases such as Influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). Unlike standard devices for collecting and transporting virus samples, PrimeStore® MTM is the first molecular transport device that can safely deactivate pathogens and stabilize RNA and DNA, allowing enhanced point of care and ambient temperature transport for laboratory based molecular testing and characterization.
Longhorn’s lead vaccine candidate, LHNVD-105 is an adjuvanted composite peptide universal influenza vaccine that targets multiple conserved epitopes across the HA, NA, and M2e regions on the virus. LHNVD-105 is formulated with two composite peptides and combined with the US Army’s Liposomal Adjuvant (ALFQ).
About BioTech Breakthrough
Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the BioTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in life science and biotechnology solutions, services and companies. The BioTech Breakthrough Awards provide public recognition for the achievements of biotechnology companies and products in categories including BioPharma, Genomics, Therapeutics, Food Science and BioAgriculture, and more. For more information visit BioTechBreakthroughawards.com
