Drugmaker Abbott said on March 31 that it has plans to develop COVID-19 tests across its testing platforms, with the intent to make them accessible across the world.
“We are developing COVID-19 tests across our Abbott testing platforms [including laboratory and lateral flow tests] and plan to bring more tests forward with the intent to get them to more people in more places around the world," Abbott spokesperson said in a statement.
"We are working to produce as many tests as possible, running our production 24/7 and will expand manufacturing capacity when we can," the statement added.
Abbott announced early this week that it had received USFDA's Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for its rapid, portable, point-of-care molecular test for the detection of COVID-19.
The test called ID NOW COVID-19 runs on the company's existing ID NOW machine, delivers positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes.
Currently, the ID NOW COVID-19 test is available only in the US as this is where most of its ID NOW instruments are in use today, the company said.
When will it come to India?
The company, however, didn't specify the timeline about any plans to launch ID NOW COVID-19 test in India.
“We don’t have country-specific plans to share,” Abbott spokesperson said.
The ID NOW platform, is a lightweight, portable machine around the size of a small toaster, which according to Abbott, is already the most widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform used for illnesses like flu and strep.
The machine can be used in healthcare settings such as physicians' offices, urgent care clinics, and hospital emergency departments.
The ID NOW COVID-19 test comes a week after the company launched its Abbott m2000 RealTime SARS-CoV-2 EUA test, which runs on the m2000 RealTime System located in the hospital and reference labs around the world.
Between the two platforms, Abbott expects to produce about 5 million tests per month.
