Company says device detects coronavirus in minutes, approved for use

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Testing being performed on Abbott’s ID NOW platform. Credit: Abbott Laboratories.

An American laboratory says its device can detect coronavirus in minutes, and it has received federal approval to start putting it at the fingertips of health care workers nationwide.

Abbott Laboratories announced the FDA has issued the company an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test Friday. Abbot says it technology platform has the ability to detect the coronavirus in as little as five minutes.

According to Abbot, “The ID NOW platform is small, lightweight (6.6 pounds) and portable (the size of a small toaster), and uses molecular technology, which is valued by clinicians and the scientific community for its high degree of accuracy. ID NOW is already the most widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform in the U.S. today.”

Abbott says it will be making ID NOW COVID-19 tests available next week to health care providers in urgent care settings, and it expects to ramp up manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests per day. Abbott also expects to produce about 5 million tests per month.

Abbott tweeted the FDA approved its coronavirus detection device for use in the U.S.

Watch video below of device details on Abbott’s YouTube channel:

This is the company’s second test to receive Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA for COVID-19 detection.

Abbott is an American medical devices and health care company based in Lake County, Illinois, at Abbott Park, a suburb 40 miles north of Chicago.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will be fought on multiple fronts, and a portable molecular test that offers results in minutes adds to the broad range of diagnostic solutions needed to combat this virus,” said Robert B. Ford, president and chief operating officer, Abbott. “With rapid testing on ID NOW, healthcare providers can perform molecular point-of-care testing outside the traditional four walls of a hospital in outbreak hotspots.”

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