BD launches portable, rapid point-of-care antigen test to detect SARS-CoV-2 in 15 minutes, dramatically expanding access to COVID-19 testing.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced that the FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a rapid, point-of-care, SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test for use with its broadly available BD Veritor Plus System. The launch of this new assay that delivers results in 15 minutes on an easy-to-use, highly portable instrument is critical for improving access to COVID-19 diagnostics because it enables real-time results and decision making while the patient is still onsite.

The BD Veritor System, which is slightly larger than a cell phone, is currently in use at more than 25,000 hospitals, clinician offices, urgent care centers and retail pharmacies in all 50 U.S. states. Its one-button functionality, workflow flexibility, and ease-of-use make it an ideal solution for settings without laboratory personnel. It also offers customers real-time reporting capabilities through the BD Synapsys informatics solution providing them with the ability to easily report data for disease monitoring and surveillance purposes.

BD is leveraging its global manufacturing network and scale and expects to increase capacity to be able to produce 2 million tests per week by the end of September. The company already expects to produce up to 10 million tests from July through September.