A regional public health body plans to buy ELISA, rapid and PCR tests for a broad range of pathogens, echoing a wider European shift to integrated diagnostics.
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A regional public health institute in Croatia is moving to refresh its infection-testing capacity, launching a contract to buy ELISA, rapid and PCR assays that can detect a broad range of infections and pathogens. The tender underlines how laboratory buyers are now assembling mixed portfolios of technologies rather than relying on a single platform.
On 27th November 2025, NASTAVNI ZAVOD ZA JAVNO ZDRAVSTVO ISTARSKE ŽUPANIJE-ISTITUTO FORMATIVO DI SANITÀ PUBBLICA DELLA REGIONE ISTRIANA published a new contract notice for diagnostic tools. The summary states that the institute plans to procure various diagnostic tools, including ELISA tests, rapid tests and PCR tests, for detecting a range of infections and pathogens.
Although the notice text released so far is concise, the mix of immunoassay (ELISA), rapid and PCR-based techniques points to a comprehensive refresh of the institute’s laboratory toolkit. Such combinations allow laboratories to pair rapid, near-patient screening with more sensitive confirmatory methods and, where needed, high-throughput molecular analysis.
The contract also highlights the role of public health institutes, rather than only hospitals or research centres, as active buyers of diagnostic capacity. Such bodies commonly combine surveillance, outbreak investigation and routine testing, and increasingly look for contractual arrangements that give them access to more than one testing platform.
The Istrian notice lands in a year marked by similar investments across Europe. In June 2025, Romania’s Institutul National de Cercetare Dezvoltare Medico Militara Cantacuzino published a Diagnostic Kits contract notice, dividing its requirements into 32 lots for ELISA, PCR and immunofluorescence kits covering multiple pathogens. That structure underscores how buyers are now bundling routine serology and complex molecular assays within the same procurement.
In the hospital sector, the Centre Hospitalier Annecy Genevois in France issued a Supply of Laboratory Reagents framework agreement notice on 30th June 2025, covering virology, bacteriology, autoimmunity, serology and molecular biology reagents and consumables. On 8th October 2025, CHU de la Martinique followed with a Supply of Medical Laboratory Reagents notice taking in quality control kits, extraction kits and testing systems for multiple pathogens. Both moves show large hospitals treating diagnostic reagents as a single strategic category spanning many specialties.
National-level public health authorities are also reshaping their test portfolios. On 23rd October 2025, Bulgaria’s НАЦИОНАЛЕН ЦЕНТЪР ПО ЗАРАЗНИ И ПАРАЗИТНИ БОЛЕСТИ announced a Consumables for STI Detection procurement covering 16 lots of molecular detection kits, PCR tests, ELISA tests, culture media and other supplies for immunological monitoring and sexually transmitted infection detection. Earlier, on 28th August 2025, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency launched a Diagnostic Tools for Animal Diseases tender for 18 lots of tools to support the country’s national programme for preventing and controlling animal diseases and zoonoses. Human and veterinary health bodies are therefore drawing on similar technologies to manage related risks.
Closer to the Istrian context, regional and municipal buyers are following comparable paths. On 10th September 2025, VILNIAUS MIESTO SAVIVALDYBĖS ADMINISTRACIJA published a Reagents and Tools for Immunology Tests notice for infectious serology and immunology reagents, with equipment supplied on loan. In Croatia, Opća bolnica Pula - Ospedale Generale di Pola set out a two-year Reagents for Medical Laboratory procurement on 12th September 2025, and on 6th November 2025 the NASTAVNI ZAVOD ZA JAVNO ZDRAVSTVO DR. ANDRIJA ŠTAMPAR issued a PCR Test Kits and Reagents notice tied to specific PCR and sequencing platforms. The new Istrian contract sits squarely within this pattern of local and regional institutions upgrading their laboratories.
The technologies highlighted in the Istrian notice mirror those seen in other recent procurements. ELISA remains a workhorse: on 5th June 2025, Spain’s Junta de Contratación del Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación released an IBR Diagnostic Kits Acquisition notice for ELISA blocking kits to detect antibodies against glycoprotein gE and for testing milk pools in infectious bovine rhinotracheitis surveillance. Similar ELISA-based approaches underpin many serology panels used in human health.
Rapid tests, by contrast, prioritise speed and ease of use. On 17th October 2025, Italian regional purchasing body ARIA advertised a Supply of Rapid and Molecular Tests procedure, seeking rapid antigen tests alongside molecular tests for specific respiratory viruses across multiple lots. Such contracts indicate growing reliance on point-of-care tools that can triage patients or samples before more detailed laboratory work is performed.
PCR and related molecular assays remain the reference tools for many infections. Alongside the Bulgarian and Croatian examples already noted, several Polish notices underline that point. On 21st October 2025, the Wojewódzka Stacja Sanitarno-Epidemiologiczna w Lublinie issued a Supply of Diagnostic Tests notice divided into 22 packages. Earlier, Szpital Uniwersytecki w Krakowie had advertised a Supply of Microbiology Testing Materials tender, and Wojewódzki Szpital Zespolony launched a Supply of Laboratory Reagents and Equipment procurement on 10th November 2025. All three span bacteriological reagents, diagnostic tests and associated equipment, reinforcing the centrality of molecular and microbiological methods in routine care.
For public buyers, mixing ELISA, rapid and PCR tests in a single procurement can offer several advantages:
The published summary of the Istrian contract does not spell out volumes, duration or lot structure, so potential bidders will need to study the full documentation carefully. Elsewhere, diagnostic procurements range from tightly focused single-lot competitions, such as the Štampar institute’s device-specific PCR tender, to broad, multi-lot frameworks like the Romanian and Bulgarian examples. Where the Istrian institute positions itself along that spectrum will determine whether the opportunity best suits full-line diagnostics manufacturers or more specialised suppliers.
What is clear from the summary is the commitment to a broad mix of ELISA, rapid and PCR tools for detecting a range of infections and pathogens. Taken together with hospital, veterinary and public health procurements published between June and November 2025, the contract adds to evidence of sustained, system-level investment in diagnostic capacity. Observers will be watching how this and similar tenders translate into practical changes in laboratory workflows, and whether the current momentum leads to more standardised testing platforms across regions – or to a more diverse ecosystem of technologies tailored to local needs.
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