COVID 19: ID NOW molecular test in 15 minutes

A new test for COVID 19 has been released by medical device company Abbott.

The new device can show positive results in a minimum of time and approved for emergency use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (or FDA) last night. The test uses the small, portable ID NOW platform and does not need to send the sample to a central laboratory to perform the analysis. Instead, it can be done directly at a clinic, which could reduce the waiting time needed today.

Doctors can simply take a sample from the patient's nose or throat and insert it directly into the machine to get a result within 15 minutes (the test can take up to 13 minutes if the sample is negative for the virus) .

"With the rapid testing offered by ID NOW, healthcare providers can perform molecular tests outside the four walls of a hospital, directly into outbreaks," Robert B. Ford, president and CEO of Abbott, said in a statement. type.

This is the second test device for COVID-19 approved by the FDA. The first, made by the biotechnology company Cephid, takes 45 minutes to show the result.

These devices that give quick answers to doctors are extremely useful at this time. Tests (should be done by doctors) can help diagnose patients with mild symptoms or patients with COVID 19 who have no symptoms at all.

The test performed by the Abbott device works differently from all types of tests that were standard in the United States during the pandemic. Normally, the sample from the patient had to be sent to a laboratory before it could be processed using a method called PCR, which looks for coronavirus genetic material at the molecular level.

To perform a PCR test, the sample must be repeatedly subjected to high heat and then returned. Abbott's device also molecularly examines the virus for genetic material, but it operates without exposure to high temperatures. That is why the device is so small and requires almost no energy.

Abbott says he plans to start building 50.000 devices ID NOW the day and will start next week.