Promega Corporation’s Maxwell^® RSC 48 Instrument and Maxwell^® RSC Viral Total Nucleic Acid Purification Kit (Maxwell^® Extraction System) are now in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 diagnostic protocol for emergency use.

In a letter dated July 13, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized an amendment to the CDC’s 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel stating the Promega Maxwell^® Extraction System is an authorized solution for laboratories that use the testing protocol.

“This announcement further validates why the Maxwell^® Extraction System is in such high demand by clinical testing labs seeking consistent and reliable benchtop automation,” says Heather Tomlinson, Promega Director of Clinical Diagnostics. “We are happy our Maxwell^® customers that use the CDC’s protocol now have the flexibility of one more approved RNA extraction option in the SARS-CoV-2 testing process.”

The Maxwell^® RSC 48 Instrument and Maxwell^® RSC Viral Total Nucleic Acid Purification Kit work together as an automated sample preparation solution that extracts RNA and DNA from viral samples. The small, benchtop Maxwell^® instrument is capable of processing and purifying approximately 400 samples in a typical 8-hour shift.