Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) completed its acquisition of Scanwell Health Inc., its partner in development of the smartphone-enabled BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test, just in time for increased demand driven by the Omicron surge in the U.S. and plans to make the tests available for free by the federal government as well as several states and large municipalities. Currently, most of the tests distributed by governments are made by Abbott Laboratories, which received emergency use authorization (EUA) for its at-home test in March 2021.
As COVID-19 cases surge across the U.S., there is growing demand for greater access to testing to rein in the pandemic. On Wednesday, the U.S. FDA granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Abbott Laboratories for at-home use of the company’s Binaxnow COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test. Abbott has teamed up with Miami-based telehealth provider Emed to distribute and administer the tests, with an expected 30 million in the first quarter of 2021.
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.