A US medical tech company has announced its SARS-CoV-2 antigen test meets EU standards for health, safety, and environmental protection and will be available for purchase end of October.
The producer claims that it delivers results in 15 minutes on an “easy-to-use, portable instrument, which is a critical improvement in turnaround time for COVID-19 diagnostics, because it provides real-time results and enables decision-making while the patient is still onsite.”
"Availability of the SARS-CoV-2 assay on the BD Veritor™ Plus System in Europe builds on our molecular test on the BD MAX™ System that has been available since March. The addition of a truly portable, point-of-care test that can deliver results while the patient waits will be welcomed by health care providers and patients alike to help protect against additional waves of COVID-19," said Roland Goette, president of BD EMEA Region, in a statement.
BD praised its product, arguing that due to its small size – “slightly larger than a mobile phone” – provides for an effective solution for point-of-care settings.
"It also offers customers traceability and reporting capabilities through the optional BD Synapsys™ informatics solution," the company added.
European countries have been using Becton Dickinson’s Veritor system to screen for flu in Europe to date. The Veritor Plus System on average costs around $250-300, while the tests themselves are about $20 each.
The availability of Covid-19 tests has been a major problem for some European countries, specifically the UK. Politicians again discussed the failure of the government to secure sufficient supply of tests for the British public during a 30 September session of the Parliament.