Trump Announces $750 Million Deal With Abbott Labs for Rapid COVID-19 Tests
President Donald Trump announced a deal worth $750 million with Abbott Laboratories for rapid COVID-19 tests at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
Under the agreement, the administration purchased 150 million rapid tests, which take only 15 minutes to deliver a result.
According to CBS News, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday granted Abbott's test emergency use authorization for suspected COVID-19 patients.
Abbott's rapid test is the first COVID-19 rapid test that don't need any special computer equipment to show its results.
Abbott's rapid test is like the size of a credit card, which is based on a similar technology used to test other infections like flu and strep throat.
The FDA said in a statement announcing the decision the result could be read directly from the testing card. The rapid tests are similar in design to some pregnancy test kits.
"This simple design is fast and efficient for healthcare providers and patients and does not need an analyzer," the FDA noted.
According to Abbott, the test would cost only $5. The price will give a competitive edge over similar tests that need to be run through a machine. However, as per CBS News, the new test of Abbott still has limitations.
The rapid test still needs a nasal swab by a health worker like most older COVID-19 tests and the result can be less accurate than the slower types of tests.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted Trump's announcement on the purchase and production of 150 million rapid tests.
President @realDonaldTrump has announced the purchase and production of 150 million rapid tests.
This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school! — Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) August 27, 2020
Meanwhile, Abbott's negative test results may need to be confirmed with a lab test in some cases, as per the FDA.
"In general, antigen tests are precise, but are not as sensitive as molecular tests," the FDA said. This means that the Abbott tests may be more likely to have false-negative results, which could miss cases where a person is actually infected.
In some cases, the FDA noted that people who test negative might need to be tested again with a molecular lab test to confirm the results.
The agency explained that due to the potential for the decreased sensitivity unlink to molecular assays, negative results from the rapid tests might need to be confirmed with a molecular test before making the treatment process.
"Negative results from an antigen test should be considered in the context of clinical observations, patient history, and epidemiological information," the FDA said.
The Trump administration's agreement with Abbott Laboratories could increase coronavirus testing in the United States despite the rapid tests' limitations. Increasing the COVID-19 testing is the public health experts' goal, which the President dismissed earlier.
As of Thursday, there were over 5.8 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 180,000 recorded deaths, as per the John Hopkins University data.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) admiral, Brett P. Giroir, said that the agency doesn't expect the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance to affect the testing volume in the country.
Early this week, the CDC revised its COVID-19 testing recommendations to indicate that many individuals who have been exposed to the virus but are not showing symptoms may not need to be tested.
Giroir maintained that the government anticipates the volume will rise in the next couple of months as people who need to return to work and school are regularly tested.
Abbott's test could be an ideal help for such testing, as per the FDA. The agency listed "point-of-care settings," like a doctor's office, emergency room, or locations on some schools where the rapid test could be conducted.
Next month, Abbott targets to ship "tens of millions" of the tests, then ramp up to "50 million tests" per month in the first week of October.
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