Puritan Diagnostics LLC, a division of Puritan Medical Products Co. LLC, North America's largest manufacturer of single use medical and diagnostic products, announced that they have received a Canadian patent and have completed examination and will soon be receiving a United States patent for their high performance HydraFlock® swab. The HydraFlock® swab combines a unique microstructure with innovative fibers to produce superior sample collection, rapid elution, and increased test sensitivity.

The Canadian and United States patents are awarded to Puritan for inventing both the unique manufacturing method involved and for the innovative HydraFlock® product itself. Patents for the HydraFlock® swab are pending in other countries throughout the world.

Puritan Medical Products has expanded rapidly over the last few years as a direct result of the company's effort to meet the evolving needs of the human diagnostic industry.

"We are extremely excited about being awarded these patents for our HydraFlock® swabs," said Timothy Templet, Executive Vice President of Sales. "We have always believed that this high performance product and our manufacturing process are very innovative. It is great to have our beliefs recognized, and we look forward to obtaining patents in additional countries. And we look forward to bringing this product line to new markets and competing on a worldwide basis."

Puritan also announced today that their Liquid Amies Transport System has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Previously approved for sale in Europe, the Liquid Amies System, which includes the patented HydraFlock® swab collection device, is now available in the U.S., along with Puritan's UTM-RT Transport System. These systems are the crucial first step in the diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections and are designed to facilitate safe and effective pre-analytical specimen collection and transport to the laboratory. They are designed to accommodate both automation and traditional liquid specimen processing in clinical laboratories, including culturing and gram staining.

All Puritan Diagnostics products are manufactured at their Guilford, Maine, U.S.A. facility, which includes custom media manufacturing and compounding capability to meet a multitude of customer needs. Research and development and product testing, approval and release takes place in-house at the company's state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory and conforms to stringent U.S. quality system regulations.

To learn more, please visit Puritan Medical Products and Puritan Diagnostics at any of the following sites: