Abbott Launches Covid Tester in Brazil; US Government Bought All Domestic Production

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – American pharmaceutical giant Abbott announced the arrival of a new Covid-19 test capable of delivering the result in up to 15 minutes. The device, called Panbio Covid-19 Ag, is portable and does not require specialized equipment to be used.

The new Abbott test can measure, through the pharynx, the amount of the novel coronavirus present in humans. In late August, the pharmaceutical company launched a test in the United States that makes use of the same technology – but under the name BinaxNOW.

Costing only US$5, virtually the entire stock of Abbott’s tests has been acquired by the US government, in a US$750 million contract for 150 million tests. On Monday, September 28th, US President Donald Trump announced the test distribution plan and said the effort “would allow each state to regularly test all teachers.” In much of the country, classes have restarted.

Virologist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Amilcar Tanuri, who was involved in the efficacy study in Brazil, commented that the test sensitivity is positive. “Since it is able to report the level of presence of the virus in the body, another confirmation test is not required,” said Tanuri.

Unlike most rapid tests, which measure the body’s immune response to the virus (which occurs from the tenth day of infection), the new Abbott test is of antigens, which can detect proteins in the infection’s activity stage.

The test is an alternative to the RT-PCR test, which takes between one to two days to produce a result and requires more advanced equipment. To prove its efficacy, Abbott conducted a clinical trial in Brazil with 585 samples. About 92 percent of the test results proved to be accurate.

According to Tanuri, the goal is to use the test on a large scale, in order to identify individuals most likely to spread the virus. This is possible because the test can measure the amount of virus present in the pharynx which can be expelled through the airways.

This is the seventh test that the pharmaceutical company is launching in Brazil. “Since the start of the pandemic, Abbott has developed test technologies, expanding access and sharing resources to help fight this virus on all possible fronts,” says Vlademir Bastos de Carvalho, General Manager of Abbott’s Rapid Diagnostics business in Brazil. “Rapid antigen testing is an important part of the broader COVID-19 testing strategy in Brazil because it is highly portable, easy to use, affordable and delivers fast results.”

The Panbio Covid-19 Ag was developed for customers outside the United States and is being marketed in several countries worldwide. As Brazil ranks third in the world in number of infections, with 4.8 million contaminated by the coronavirus, it has become a key country for Abbott.

The test is already available for use in Brazil and will begin to be marketed this week – but official prices have not yet been disclosed. The company will aim to sell the new test to public healthcare systems and the private healthcare sector. However, Abbott does not disclose how many units have been imported into Brazil. The test is manufactured by the pharmaceutical company’s facility in South Korea.

According to Abbott, the test being introduced here and the one directed to the American market share the same technology, particularly in terms of reagents and detection chemistry. Therefore, their respective performance characteristics are very similar. The differences lie in the test format (Panbio has a fillet format and Binax looks like a credit card) and in the way the samples are collected (nasopharyngeal for Panbio and nasal for Binax).

For both the North American and Brazilian versions, Abbott has developed an App and Website that aims to monitor the results and provide an easy tool for users, who can access their results at any time.

Source: Exame