BD Veritor SARS-CoV-2 System: easy-to-use, portable rapid Point-of-Care antigen diagnostic test in just 15 minutes

The BD Veritor™ Plus System SARS-Cov-2 antigen test can be considered as highly accurate: the sensitivity and specificity of the assay is between 80 to 90 percent for the sensitivity and above 99 percent for the specificity. The system also works with multiple tests that have been developed in the past.

Dr. Celine Roger-Dalbert, the vice president of R&D for Integrated Diagnostics Solutions at BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has introduced the BD Veritor™ Plus System SARS-Cov-2 antigen test showcasing its easy ability to not only detect COVID – including variants B. 1.351 and B.1.1.7, first reported in South Africa and the UK in December 2020 respectively, as well as other viral infections such as influenza and Streptococcus A.  Dr. Roger-Dalbert highlights the importance of research and development and how it “paved for road to diagnostics in an environment where little was known about the virus.”

Can you in layman's terms, explain how the BD Veritor™ Plus System works?

The BD Veritor™ Plus System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 is what we call an antigen test. The principle behind an antigen test is to detect and identify the virus. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, for instance, the antigen test will capture some of the proteins at the surface of the virus and will detect these proteins and give you a positive signal if a protein is present or a negative signal if a virus is not present.

Could you comment on the accuracy of the BD Veritor™ Plus System and the Covid-19 antigen test?

The BD Veritor™ Plus System SARS-CoV-2 antigen test is highly accurate. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay, so the capability of detecting the virus and being specific to this virus is between 80 to 90 percent for the sensitivity and above 99 percent for the specificity.

Can the BD Veritor™ Plus System be used to test for other diseases?

The BD Veritor™ Plus System works with multiple tests that have been developed in the past. We have an influenza test for the detection of Flu A + B, we also have a test for RSV which is another respiratory infectious virus, as well as a group A Streptococcus for the detection of throat infection, especially frequent with children.

What are the capabilities of BD Veritor™ Plus System to detect the South African and UK variants?

BD has done some evaluation of the variants. The first thing we do in these cases is looking at analyses of a mutation that can happen. The BD Veritor™ Plus System detects what we call the nucleocapsid proteins. The UK variants has only two mutations in this protein and the South African variant has one. So more than 98 percent of a protein is conserved as is. Even if we don't have direct evidence yet, there is likely no issue with detecting these variants with this antigen test. However, we are trying to acquire the strains to do the testing inhouse to make sure that we detect these variants with the same sensitivity as all the other circulating strains. Since this communication the variants have been tested with the BD Veritor™ and are detected by the assay.

Can you explain how the system works, how the portal works and how it gets processed

When a patient arrives to be tested a nasal swab from both nostrils will be taken by a healthcare worker. The swab will then be extracted in a very small volume of buffer that is provided with a test. You will express the swab in this liquid for 15 seconds, which will help release the virus that was in the nose within the liquid. Then, with the same container where you have the liquid, you will be able to put three drops into the the BD Veritor™ Plus System test strip. These three drops when they are on the device will start to migrate through the device and 15 minutes later, the BD Veritor™ Plus System reader will read the strip. The reader will take into consideration the controls because there are two control lines associated with a device to make sure that the process has been done properly. The test line is for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen. And if you have a line, you have a positive result, if there is no line, that will be a negative result. The BD Veritor™ Plus System reader will interpret the result for you directly and you will get on the screen your positive or negative results. 

Is it easy for healthcare workers to redirect the system to test for other diseases?

The way that BD Veritor™ Plus System works is very similar for all assays, so as long as you are trained on one of the assays, using the products should be extremely easy. For instance, the way we collect the nasal swab is very similar from one product to another. The way you process the sample onto the strip and the way you use it with a reader is exactly the same for all assays. So, when you acquire one of these instruments, moving from one assay to another will not require specific training or specific setup of the instrument, you will be able to use whatever product you need based on the intended population you would like to test.

If you want to use the BD Veritor™ Plus System with other assays, you can practice the test on the same instrument again with a very similar workflow, very similar design. All the kits are designed similarly, so it's not confusing for the user who will have to maybe switch from the flu to a SARS-CoV-2 assay even for the same patient, for instance.

Can you provide customer feedback on the BD Veritor™ Plus System?

We recently received information from one of our customers who is leading a small nursing home in the USA. She said that the BD Veritor™ Plus System helps them a lot. It takes a big and heavy burden off of them, and it has allowed them to help, for instance, family visits to the nursing home, making sure that the elderly will still be able to see their family and test them when they arrive. She concluded by saying, “the BD Veritor™ Plus System is our baby and we love it, and we cannot live without it right now.”

What is BD’s R&D effort especially during the COVID-19 period?

I'm the R&D leader of multiple efforts that have been done by BD for COVID-19 products. It includes some of the molecular products we have developed, as well as the BD Veritor™ Plus System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and I can tell you, I have never seen in BD so many people mobilised, so many people engaged, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to get this product working. And it has never entailed any compromise on the quality of the work done. The rigor was there to make sure we will deliver products with the right level of performance.

Honesty, as an R&D leader, I believe that BD has really paved for road to diagnostics in an environment where little was known about the virus. But when you look now at the products, we cover the full spectrum of testing from molecular diagnostics to antigen tests. And we are also paving the way on how this test should be used. If you look at some of the studies that have been done with the BD Veritor™ Plus System showing the direct link between infectious people and the detection by BD Veritor™, it can help public health as well. So, going back to R&D work, it would never have been possible without people who were really driven by purpose and really want to help during a pandemic that we have. Most of us have never lived through it in the past. And it has been the most humbling experience for me as a leader in this organisation.