Becton Dickinson Wins FDA Approval of 15-Minute, Hand-Held Covid Test

[JudyM]

Source: Bloomberg News

... The hand-held product, which is around the size of a mobile phone, is part of a new class of antigen testing technology that promises to bring faster, cheaper testing to doctors’ offices, urgent-care centers and other medical facilities. The first such test, from Quidel Corp., was cleared for U.S. use in May.

... Becton Dickinson’s new product runs on its Veritor Plus system, which is already used in more than 25,000 U.S. locations to detect strep throat and the flu. Manufacturing has already begun and shipping begins immediately. The company plans to produce up to 10 million tests by the end of September, and is working toward a capacity to manufacture 2 million a week.

The new antigen testing equipment is cheaper for medical facilities to buy and to use. Abbott Laboratories’ rapid ID NOW system, for instance, has a price tag in the thousands of dollars. Becton Dickinson’s Veritor Plus System has an average selling price of $250 to $300, and the tests themselves are about $20 each, Polen said. Quidel’s test could cost as little as $5 to administer, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has said.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/becton-dickinson-wins-approval-for-fast-hand-held-covid-test

[murielm99]

1. What is your reaction to Scott Gottlieb?

I find him hard to trust.

[JudyM]

4. I get the sense he went into medicine strictly as a business venture, rather than from an impulse to

help heal people.

[ebbie15644]

2. How much do they donate to Trump?

[PSPS]

3. I'll wait for something approved by the EMA. The FDA has been captured and has a toady as its head.

[Canoe52]

5. Kick

[scipan]

6. Only catches 84% of people who have it nt