Race in full-stride for tests to identify coronavirus illness

Abbott (ABT -1.5%), French biotech bioMérieux (OTCPK:BMXMF +3%) and Co-Diagnostics (CODX -7.7%), along with public health labs and hospitals, are working feverishly (no pun intended) to develop tests to spot coronavirus-related illness.

At present the only available FDA-approved tests are from the CDC and state of New York and this has not been problem-free. Some of the CDC’s molecular tests that it shipped to other labs didn’t work properly and had to be replaced. Also, all presumptive positives require confirmation at the CDC lab in Atlanta.

The FDA has communicated with more than 70 developers and public health labs about their respective tests. The New York State Department of Health is testing samples and is providing instructions to hospitals to replicate the test on-site with a goal of processing about 1,000 tests each day.

A test developed at Hackensack Meridian Health, operator of 17 hospitals in northern New Jersey, can generate presumptive results in ~two hours, allowing the start of supportive care while the sample is confirmed at a state lab.

BioMérieux is developing two tests, one that generates a result within an hour that can be used outside of a lab and the other for high-volume in-lab processing. Both may be available in the next several weeks although regulatory sign-off could add to the timeline.

Related diagnostic test makers: Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO +2.8%), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY +2%), Qiagen (QGEN +14.3%)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3548128-race-in-full-stride-for-tests-to-identify-coronavirus-illness