A company with offices in the Bay Area just got the FDA green light to start sending out a portable COVID-19 test that takes just minutes to show a result. Scott Budman reports.
A company with offices in the Bay Area just got the FDA's green light to start sending out a portable COVID-19 test that takes just minutes to show a result.
Abbott Labs, a Chicago company with offices in Santa Clara, has been working on the portable testing platform and now that they got the go, it’s expected to test 50,000 people a day.
“It's the size of a small kitchen appliance,” said Gavin Cloherty, head of Infectious Disease research at Abbott Labs.
The pharmaceutical company said it will ramp up production and hopes to eventually produce up to 5 million tests per month.
“It generates accurate test results in a matter of minutes, instead of hours or days, which enables a healthcare provider to see a patient, diagnose a patient, and take necessary interventions in a very short amount of time," said Cloherty.
Abbott said it will make the tests available to healthcare providers in an urgent care setting and they should be available in about a week.
