Following the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authorization of the first COVID-19 diagnostic test with a home-collection option;

Aliyah Farouk, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“GlobalData expects LabCorp’s at-home COVID-19 test to ease demand for much needed personal protective equipment (PPE). Although the test can currently only be purchased by healthcare workers and first responders, wide commercial availability will divert the main focus of COVID-19 testing away from hospitals, ensuring PPE is reserved for patients requiring critical care.

“The shortage of PPE continues to be a concern for many institutions. Companies are increasing their production capacity while the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Commission have issued a new guidance in order to facilitate the supply of PPE from non-traditional manufactures. However, GlobalData expects innovative approaches to testing such as at-home sample collection will be more essential in reducing demand.

“Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, the FDA has authorized over 50 diagnostic tests. The focus thusfar has been on the use of rapid point-of-care tests and serology tests, which help identify prior infections. Now that LabCorp’s test has been authorized, it is likely that companies will prioritize working on COVID-19 home tests.”