Qiagen (NYSE: QGEN) and its partner Ellume are gearing up for the launch of the QIAreach SARS-CoV-2 antigen test, which can reportedly process samples in 2–15 minutes.
Qiagen notes that the test can process up to 30 swab samples per hour while supporting parallel processing of antibody tests.
The companies have submitted the test for emergency use authorization in the U.S. and CE-IVD marking in Europe.
A number of companies, including BD (NYSE: BDX), Abbott (NYSE: ABT) and Quidel (NSDQ:QDEL) have developed similar antigen tests.
The QIAreach SARS-CoV-2 antigen test has 90% sensitivity and 100% specificity, according to Qiagen. Competing products, such as the BinaxNOW from Abbot, have a sensitivity of 95%. The Roche (SWX: RO, ROG) Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test is said to detect antibodies with 100% sensitivity in samples procured 14 days after a PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection.
Other players with rapid antigen tests include Siemens (ETR:SHL), which has a CE Marked product, and Access Bio, which has won an EUA for its CareStart antigen tet.