Abbott Launches 5-Minute Covid-19 Test for Use Almost Anywhere

[ravip]

Abbott Laboratories is unveiling a coronavirus test that can tell if someone is infected in as little as 5 minutes, and is so small and portable it can be used in almost any health-care setting.

The medical-device maker plans to supply 50,000 tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics. The molecular test looks for fragments of the coronavirus genome, which can be detected in as little as five minutes when it’s present at high levels. A thorough search to definitively rule out an infection can take up to 13 minutes, he said.

Full article

[Maestro]

Information about it here on the Abbott website;

 

mabbott.mediaroom.com/2020-03-27-Abbott-Launches-Molecular-Point-of-Care-Test-to-Detect-Novel-Coronavirus-in-as-Little-as-Five-Minutes&ved=2ahUKEwibpeLG5L_oAhUEyKYKHVh_CNMQFjAJegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1aYZAvxpwtli_onbjAAQrs

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If it works as advertised, that would be a great result...

 

Unfortunately, don't see any info there on just how much Abbott's going to be charging governments/health agencies for each of their fancy new test kits....

 

 

 

[Puccini]

I see that the US FDA made the instructions for use of this test kit available for download already on 5 March 2020:

 

https://www.fda.gov/media/136258/download

 

[Nyezhov]

Buy stock in Abbot! Nothing like a chance for profit to speed up the development of a vital product!

[Maestro]

No mention of the price of the test kit on the web as far as I can see, but there is this reference to the cost of testing:

 

Quote

 

ACLA, which includes LabCorp and Quest, sent a letter on Wednesday to congressional leaders making the case for its members on the "frontlines" of the nation's response to the coronavirus outbreak, having performed 43,000 tests since Feb. 29, yet without assurances on how these testing services will be paid for.

 

"Clinical laboratories need additional support from Congress to ensure we have the necessary staffing, supplies and equipment to fulfill that vital promise," states ACLA's letter, which calls for the creation of a $5 billion Emergency Laboratory Surge Capacity Fund administered by the Department of Treasury.

 

ACLA proposes that the fund would be used to help support labs conducting COVID-19 tests by covering capital and supplies acquisition for testing platforms, reagents and swabs as well as costs for uncompensated coronavirus tests.

 

"Free testing for COVID-19 has now been promised to the American people. Laboratories should not bear the cost of 'free' testing," wrote ACLA's President Julie Khani, adding the "laboratory industry wholeheartedly supports no-cost testing but is in critical need of additional support from Congress."

 

Source: 

https://www.medtechdive.com/news/abbott-latest-to-get-fda-emergency-use-nod-for-coronavirus-test/574461/

 

This applies to the USA, where apparently somebody in the government promised free testing to the American people.

[Scott]

Singapore apparently also has one:

 

https://mothership.sg/2020/03/covid-19-test-how-long/?fbclid=IwAR1I9bW03KjOjwEp-2uVUMN9vinGDhNqZAxkAUI4rlvvL7n_zV7TZaovbbQ

[timendres]

5 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Buy stock in Abbot! Nothing like a chance for profit to speed up the development of a vital product!

P/E of 36, 1.9% dividend, and not a small company that can explode on a single product like this one that has no monopoly. But likely to pop on the news.