The new molecular test for COVID-19 has been designed to run on the company’s ID NOW platform, a rapid, instrument-based, isothermal system
Abbott rolls out new molecular test to detect novel coronavirus. (Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.)
Abbott has secured the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its advanced molecular test to rapidly detect novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The new molecular test is said to provide positive results within five minutes and negative results in less than 13 minutes, said the company.
Abbott president and chief operating officer Robert B Ford said: “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.
“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.”
ID NOW platform is a small, lightweight and portable device with high accuracy
The new molecular test for COVID-19 has been designed to run on the company’s ID NOW platform, to deliver rapid results in a wide range of healthcare settings including physicians’ offices, urgent care clinics and hospital emergency departments.
ID NOW is a rapid, instrument-based, isothermal system for the qualitative detection of infectious diseases. The advanced isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology of the platform is said to provide the results within minutes, facilitating clinicians to make evidence-based clinical decisions.
Abbott said that its ID NOW platform is a small, lightweight and portable device that uses molecular technology with high accuracy. It was first introduced in 2014, as a molecular point-of-care platform for Influenza A & B, Strep A and RSV testing in the US.
The company intends to commercialise the ID NOW COVID-19 tests in the US and is working with the administration to deploy tests in locations where they can yield more impact.
Furthermore, the new Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test has been launched following 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.