[BostonCard]

When the Abbot Labs tests start rolling out that can do tests in 10 mins, the world will start getting really accurate data for the first time.



I hope there are more efforts to test entire cities so we can start picking up asymptomatic infections, because not surprisingly, research shows asymptomatic spread is the most common maybe beyond healthcare workers getting from symptomatic patients.



Abbot Labs says it will start producing 50,000 test kits per day starting April 1. I’m not sure if this is one time tests or if each testing system made can test as many as 5 per hour. My understanding is it is the latter, and we are finally getting exponential growth in testing capacity to match and exceed virus spread.

The Abbott test is a POC (point of care) test.  While it returns results quickly, it can only run one test at a time, so its throughput is not as great as the large automated tests that can be run centrally and can run thousands of tests within a day.  Those return results more slowly (because after collection, the material needs to be sent to the lab processed and run, but those machines can run a lot of tests quickly.  The Abbott test is most useful for healthcare workers (who would need to be cleared quickly if they want to return to work).  There are probably a number of other potential use cases where speed is critical, but it is probably best to approach most potential Covid-19 patients empirically.  Basically, assume they are infected, advise them and treat them as if they are infected (but also treat for other potential causes of the symptoms, like influenza) and send the Covid-19 test for confirmation.  Knowing the diagnosis for sure wouldn't change management in many cases, since patients with mild symptoms will be told to self-quarantine anyways, and patients with severe symptoms will be given supportive care.

Oh, one other potential use case is entry into clinical trials, if the inclusion criteria require a documented positive test.

BC

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The Abbott Labs announcement was interesting.  So was Gilead Sciences' announcement that the clinical trials of Remdesivir had progressed well enough to change their status from "compassionate use" to "expanded access."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...id-19-drug

This might just reflect that they have managed to manufacture enough of it to provide it more readily, or that they are getting overwhelmed with the administrative burden of adjudicating compassionate use claims.  That being said, given the sheer number of cases, I do expect clinical trials to start producing results soonish, since recruiting patients shouldn't be an issue.  A lot will depend on the endpoint, and for a mortality endpoint the clinical trial will have to run long (for example, 28 days) to be able to tell the difference in clinical course.

BC

[BostonCard]

When the Abbot Labs tests start rolling out that can do tests in 10 mins, the world will start getting really accurate data for the first time.



I hope there are more efforts to test entire cities so we can start picking up asymptomatic infections, because not surprisingly, research shows asymptomatic spread is the most common maybe beyond healthcare workers getting from symptomatic patients.



Abbot Labs says it will start producing 50,000 test kits per day starting April 1. I’m not sure if this is one time tests or if each testing system made can test as many as 5 per hour. My understanding is it is the latter, and we are finally getting exponential growth in testing capacity to match and exceed virus spread.

The Abbott test is a POC (point of care) test.  While it returns results quickly, it can only run one test at a time, so its throughput is not as great as the large automated tests that can be run centrally and can run thousands of tests within a day.  Those return results more slowly (because after collection, the material needs to be sent to the lab processed and run, but those machines can run a lot of tests quickly.  The Abbott test is most useful for healthcare workers (who would need to be cleared quickly if they want to return to work).  There are probably a number of other potential use cases where speed is critical, but it is probably best to approach most potential Covid-19 patients empirically.  Basically, assume they are infected, advise them and treat them as if they are infected (but also treat for other potential causes of the symptoms, like influenza) and send the Covid-19 test for confirmation.  Knowing the diagnosis for sure wouldn't change management in many cases, since patients with mild symptoms will be told to self-quarantine anyways, and patients with severe symptoms will be given supportive care.

Oh, one other potential use case is entry into clinical trials, if the inclusion criteria require a documented positive test.

BC

---

The Abbott Labs announcement was interesting.  So was Gilead Sciences' announcement that the clinical trials of Remdesivir had progressed well enough to change their status from "compassionate use" to "expanded access."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...id-19-drug

This might just reflect that they have managed to manufacture enough of it to provide it more readily, or that they are getting overwhelmed with the administrative burden of adjudicating compassionate use claims.  That being said, given the sheer number of cases, I do expect clinical trials to start producing results soonish, since recruiting patients shouldn't be an issue.  A lot will depend on the endpoint, and for a mortality endpoint the clinical trial will have to run long (for example, 28 days) to be able to tell the difference in clinical course.

BC