Guilford manufacturer gets another $11.6M to make COVID-19 swabs

PHOTO / FRED FIELD Puritan Medical Products in Guilford received an additional $11.6 million in federal funds to expand its COVID-19 testing swab production.

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By Staff

Guilford medical supplies manufacturer Puritan Medical Products has received an additional $11.6 million in federal funds to expand its production of clinical swabs used to test people for COVID-19.

The award was funded through the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act enacted in April, according to a news release Monday.

“Increased testing is crucial to tracking and slowing the spread of COVID-19 and keeping our communities safe,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in the release. “Puritan Medical Products has risen to this challenge by exponentially increasing its production of testing swabs, creating hundreds of jobs in Guilford and Pittsfield in the process.”

In April, Puritan received $75.5 million in Defense Production Act funds to build a modern manufacturing facility in Pittsfield and increase production of testing swabs.

In August, Puritan received an additional $51.2 million grant that allowed the company to retrofit an additional facility in Pittsfield.

Together, the contracts brought Puritan’s total production of flock tip swabs and foam swabs to at least 90 million per month and allowed the company to hire hundreds of additional employees.

The latest award will help modify the newest plant in Pittsfield to accommodate additional object flocking machines to make swabs for Cue Health, a medical diagnostics maker in San Diego.

The money will cover additional engineering work, changes in utilities and overtime needed to keep the overall project on schedule.