FDA Approves Abbott Lab’s 5-Minute Coronavirus Test Kit

Recently, Abbott, the medical device producer, has gained emergency approval from the U.S. FDA for its new coronavirus test kit. The newly-approved COVID-19 test kit will enable healthcare providers in a wide range of settings to gain results within a few minutes. Even more, the novel kit can deploy positive results in as less as five minutes. Besides, it takes 13 minutes for the kit to reveal negative outcomes. In a notice released on Friday, Abbott said urgent care clinics, hospital ERs, and physicians’ offices could use the test kit. As per the announcement, it will function on Abbott’s ID NOW platform. It is a small toaster-size portable device of the company that already offers potentials to detect strep A and respiratory syncytial virus along with influenza A&B.

Abbott has also announced that it is speeding up the production and hopes to deploy 50,000 tests every day to the American healthcare system. It will start delivering the COVID-19 test kits in the upcoming days. John Frels, VP of R&D at Abbott, said it is a crucial leap forward. He added one could get a positive outcome in five minutes and a negative one in thirteen minutes. John noted people could go to a clinic and literally get results at the same time.

Abbott’s kit is the second test that has gained approval from the FDA that healthcare workers can directly use. In the previous week, the FDA has permitted the use of Cepheid-made kit on the verge of care. Robert Ford, Abbott’s president and chief operating officer, said the COVID-19 pandemic would be battled on several faces, along with a handy molecular test. As per the executive, it takes a few minutes for the test kit to offer results. Even more, an extensive range of diagnostic solutions is essential to contain the virus. Amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has rushed to approve tests on an urgent basis and has permitted others made by manufacturers like Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Roche Holding AG.