Abbott said it will make available this week its ID NOW™ COVID-19 test designed to deliver positive results for detecting nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in five minutes, and negative results in 13 minutes, following Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA—results that according to the company make it the fastest available molecular point-of-care test.
The test runs on Abbott’s ID NOW platform, and can be used in physicians’ offices and urgent care clinics, in addition to hospital emergency departments, given its portability; it has the size of a small toaster and weighs 6.6 pounds.
“Through the incredible work of teams across Abbott, we expect to deliver 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day to healthcare professionals on the front lines, where testing capabilities are needed most,” stated Chris Scoggins, senior vice president, Rapid Diagnostics, Abbott.
Added Abbott President and COO Robert B. Ford: “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.”
First introduced in 2014, ID NOW is a molecular point-of-care platform already used by U.S. healthcare providers to detect Influenza A & B, Strep A and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) testing. ID NOW is a rapid, instrument-based, isothermal system designed for the qualitative detection of infectious diseases.
ID NOW’s isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology is intended to generate molecular results in minutes, allowing clinicians to make evidence-based clinical decisions during a patient visit.
ID NOW is the second Abbott molecular diagnostic test created to detect SARS-CoV-2. On March 18, Abbott announced that it obtained EUA from the FDA for its m2000 RealTime system, which uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, and tests for a broad array of infectious diseases. Abbott said at the time it planned to deploy 150,000 laboratory tests immediately to existing customers in the U.S., with a goal of providing up to 1 million tests per week.
Abbott added that it is working with the FDA to deploy its tests to areas where they would be deemed to have the greatest impact.
