Biotest and Premier Announce Partnership
Biotest Diagnostics Corp., Rockaway, NJ, announced a multi-year agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners L.P., the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC, for its advanced serology solutions, including traditional blood bank reagents, and the TANGO optimo Automated Blood Bank System.
In addition to this national contract, Biotest has also been selected as a sole source supplier under Premier's ASCEND (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program. This alliance will help healthcare providers participating in the program to further control and reduce costs of care without sacrificing quality of care through supply chain efficiencies and best practices networking, according to a Biotest press release.
The agreement, effective as of Sept. 16, 2009, offers Premier members--a network of more than 2,200 hospitals and 63,000 healthcare facilities--access to specialized pricing on Biotest's full line of traditional and automated blood bank products.
"As the impetus to improve our healthcare system continues to accelerate, so does the need to help maximize healthcare providers' investments in technology and supplies," said Candace Williams, vice president of Biotest's Diagnostics Division. "Through our contractual relationship, Biotest and Premier are taking a strategic approach to providing hospitals and laboratories with access to cost-effective blood banking solutions to enhance performance and productivity in blood group serology testing. We look forward to being part of such a strong industry community and valued resource."
Licensed in 2008 by the FDA, Biotest's traditional blood bank reagents include monoclonal rare antisera, ABO/Rh reagents, reagent red cells, antihuman-globulin, controls and potentiators. Biotest's TANGO optimo Automated Blood Bank System, used for blood group serology testing in donor centers and transfusion services, is already in use in select Premier alliance member hospitals, primarily to perform donor antibody screening and ABO/Rh testing. Additional assays, including weak D, antibody identification, Rh and Kell phenotyping, crossmatching and direct antiglobulin testing--also approved by the FDA in 2008 for use with TANGO--increase the utility of the technology.