Abbott Laboratories to Produce 50,000 Breakthrough Coronavirus Tests Daily

March 30, 2020  11:35am

(WGTD)---It looks like so-called "Big Pharma" is coming to the rescue. Abbott Laboratories has developed a coronavirus test that can tell if someone has COVID-19 in as little as five minutes. Additionally---the test device---which is the size of a toaster---is so small and portable it can be used in almost any healthcare setting. The test was granted "emergency-use authorization" by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.  John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics, said in a press release, “This is really going to provide a tremendous opportunity for front-line caregivers, those having to diagnose a lot of infections, to close the gap with our testing. A clinic will be able to turn the result around quickly, while the patient is waiting."

The North Chicago-based company said it was ramping up production to deliver 50,000 ID NOW COVID-19 tests per day to the U.S. healthcare system starting this Wednesday, April 1st. The technology used to build these test devices builds on the company’s ID NOW platform, the most common point-of-care test currently available in the U.S. It is widely used to detect influenza, strep throat and respiratory syncytial virus, a common bug that causes cold-like symptoms.

The test starts with taking a swab from the nose or the back of the throat, then mixing it with a chemical solution that breaks open the virus and releases its RNA, Ribonucleic acid which is a nucleic acid molecule similar to DNA. The mixture is then inserted into an ID NOW system, a small box weighing just under 7 pounds that has the built-in technology to identify and amplify select sequences of the coronavirus genome and ignore contamination from other viruses. The equipment can be set up almost anywhere, but Abbott is working with its customer and the Trump Administration to ensure the first ones are sent to where they are needed most. Abbott is targeting hospital emergency rooms, urgent-care clinics and doctors’ offices.  This new test reduces the risk of infection for health care workers because patients can swab themselves.