Abbott Laboratories on Thursday said an analysis of data from an ongoing study of its ID NOW rapid test, which is used in the White House and elsewhere to spot COVID-19, shows it is highly accurate when compared with industry-standard tests.
Abbott’s data has so far shown that the test, which can be used at the point of care and produces results in minutes, finds positive cases of COVID-19 nearly 95% of the time when compared with two other tests performed in laboratories.
The results appear to contradict some other studies that raised questions about the test’s accuracy.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last week that Abbott’s speedy coronavirus diagnostic test could potentially be inaccurate. The regulator said early data about the Abbott ID Now test suggested it may sometimes fail to detect the illness.
New York University researchers also said last week that the Abbott test could be missing a third to nearly half of positive cases. An NYU study on the test, however, was not peer-reviewed.
