Jan-2022
Bay Area Health Trust supplies Ontario with McMaster Molecular Medium for COVID-19 PCR test kits
Bay Area Health Trust will be supplying Ontario’s provincial labs with its McMaster Molecular Medium (MMM), a molecular transport medium that is a critical component of COVID-19 PCR testing. This is a repeat order of the made-in-Ontario product by the procurement authority representing the Province of Ontario. MMM is on Public Health Ontario’s approved list of COVID-19 PCR collection kits.
McMaster Molecular Medium is a ready-to-use, temperature-stable sample collection and storage medium that inactivates and stabilizes coronavirus specimens from the collection site to the laboratory.
MMM was developed by researchers from McMaster University and The Research Institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton’s Disease Diagnostics and Development Group. MMM enable labs to safely increase their COVID-19 testing capacity, thereby returning faster results. Unlike viral transport media, MMM inactivates the virus so it cannot potentially infect a lab technician while keeping genetic material stabilized and ready for testing.
These features are especially important during times of high testing levels, during which efficiency becomes critical. Another key benefit of using MMM is the ability to pool specimens, which can enable labs to significantly increase their testing capacity. Since most tests produce negative results, only pools that come back with positive results will need to be further tested.
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