The U.S. FDA has cleared the way for Abbott Laboratories sixth COVID-19 test, a near-patient, point-of-care antigen test that gives results in 15 minutes and can be run without laboratory equipment. The company has priced the Binaxnow COVID-19 Ag Card rapid test at $5 and is offering a complementary mobile app that allows people to display their test results when asked by organizations for verification.
The U.S. FDA detailed which kinds of SARS-CoV-2 tests are getting top priority, with access to rolling, rapid reviews for emergency use authorization (EUA) during the unfolding pandemic. The agency is aiming to authorize point-of-care and at-home tests to better distribute the use of testing in various locations. It also is looking at automated and high-throughput tests that can offer analysis of larger batches of tests at one time.
Fidget spinners are hand-held toys based on a roller bearing and three weighted lobes, which can spin freely, creating centrifugal force when activated manually.
LONDON – After eight years in development, Memed Diagnostics Ltd. has secured CE marking for its point-of-care blood test, which is able to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections in 15 minutes.
Fidget spinners are hand-held toys based on a roller bearing and three weighted lobes, which can spin freely, creating centrifugal force when activated manually. Generating centrifugal force with a fidget spinner takes neither electricity nor trained staff. And that has suggested to several researchers that such spinners, under the right circumstances, could be used for centrifugation under circumstances where reliably operating a centrifuge, for whatever reason, is a challenge.
Astrotech Corp., of Austin, Texas, has a broad range, having developed mass spectrometers in agriculture and manufacturing and selling chemical analyzers for use in the airport security and other applications. Now, it is looking to help in the fight against COVID-19.
Guilford, Conn.-based Hyperfine Research Inc. has received the U.S. FDA’s nod for a bedside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and is eyeing this summer for shipments. The portable system can be wheeled directly to the patient’s bedside and plugs into a standard electrical wall outlet.
Brisbane, Calif.-based Caption Health Inc. received good news from the U.S. FDA, which has given a thumbs up to Caption Guidance. This software aims to assist medical professionals in the acquisition of cardiac ultrasound images and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time guidance.
With an eye toward expanding the reach of its Febridx rapid point-of-care (POC) test, Lumos Diagnostics Holdings Pty. Ltd. has seen the closing of a $15 million series A round from Australia’s Planet Innovation. The funds will back a U.S. FDA pivotal clinical trial, as well as additional development and manufacturing resources for the company’s expanding full-service POC business.
Hand-held diagnostics don't come cheaply, and their applications remain somewhat limited. Abbott Laboratories' Istat portable clinical analyzer, for example, retails at about $15,000, with each individual cartridge costing hundreds of dollars apiece to measure each of roughly a few dozen blood gas, electrolyte, chemistry and hematology levels in few minutes from two to three drops of whole blood.
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