At Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, fears of a terrorist attack run deep. Anxiety among physicians and first-responders is especially strong because Hackensack is densely populated, packing 43,000 residents into four square miles. A biological attack could quickly infect thousands of people if health officials didn't quickly identify and treat victims.
Last month, hospital officials decided that the threat warranted spending $69,000 on an M-Series M1M Analyzer, a portable biological-agent-detection machine made by BioVeris Corp., a Gaithersburg biotech firm. Powder, soil, water, or food samples are placed into vials and inserted into the M1M. Proprietary testing mechanisms analyze the substances and within 15 minutes can identify anthrax, botulinum neurotoxins, ricin, and staphylococcal enterotoxins.
20/20 GeneSystems' Jonathan Cohen says more than 1,000 first responders have been trained to use the BioCheck Kit.
(Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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Products With a Crossover Appeal Government agencies were the first customers for biological detection devices, but businesses have recently started buying them as well. Here's a sampling of devices that have crossed over from government use to the private sector.
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Without the machine, samples would have to be sent to another lab, delaying results for perhaps 24 hours.
"We know that from the anthrax attacks of 2001 that when you diagnose these diseases early, you start treatment early, you increase survival," said Edward Yamin, vice chairman of the hospital's trauma department.
"We had to have it," said Robert L. Torre, vice president and chief operating officer of the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation. "We knew right away that this hospital needed it, and this community needed it. We hope they sell a hundred of these things and nobody ever needs to use them."
Since launching the product last year, BioVeris has sold 40 analyzers to the Defense Department, for use in laboratories and in battle. The sale in Hackensack was the company's first to a non-military customer. Such sales are a key focus this year for BioVeris and its 200 employees.
BioVeris President Richard J. Massey said the company is sensitive to concerns that an M1M could collect dust, and its marketing strategy includes highlighting daily uses for the machine, such as testing fluids for influenza or other viruses. Washington Hospital Center officials say they try to use federal money to buy equipment that can be used every day, such as a high-speed X-ray machine that can quickly scan for broken bones in accident victims as well as for shrapnel from an attack.
Michael P. Allswede, who coordinates disaster preparedness at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, questions whether hospitals should buy biological-detection devices at all, though his facility hasn't. "Here's the simple fact: Sick people come to the hospital, not powder specimens," he said. With that in mind, officials at Inova Fairfax Hospital and several hospitals in Montgomery County said they rely on more low-tech practices: performing thorough physical examinations using specific questions to help determine whether symptoms could be related to biological agents.
Identification of specific toxins has been left mostly to first-responders and hazardous-materials teams. They have been snapping up handheld devices such as the RAMP system (for Rapid Analyte Measurement Platform), developed after the 2001 anthrax attacks by Response Biomedical Corp. in Burnaby, B.C. The machine, which costs about $9,000, contains antibodies from toxins such as anthrax and ricin. When samples containing those toxins are inserted into the machine, the antibodies quickly bind to the substances, signaling to the user the specific type of toxins.
Bill Radvak, the company's chief executive, said the firm sold more than 200 RAMP devices and he expects to sell more than that this year. His buyers include major corporations and manufacturers, medical schools and defense contractors. He declined to identify any of his customers, citing security concerns and request for confidentiality.
