(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Lake Bluff, Illinois-based Abbott Labs announced plans Friday to produce a test for COVID-19 that delivers results within minutes.
Officials said the U.S. FDA had issued an emergency authorization for the company to make the product, which will be used on an existing company platform, ID NOW.
The COVID-19 tests Abbott has developed will turn around results at health care settings, such as doctors’ offices, as quickly as five minutes for positives and 13 minutes for negatives.
Getting a handle on the number of people with the novel coronavirus is seen as a key strategy in stemming the pandemic. Existing tests are not as widely available as authorities would like, and it can take days to get results back.
"The COVID-19 pandemic will be fought on multiple fronts, and a portable molecular test that offers results in minutes adds to the broad range of diagnostic solutions needed to combat this virus," Robert B. Ford, president and chief operating officer of Abbott, said in a news release.
ID NOW is already the most widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform in the U.S. today, Abbott said.
Abbott will make the COVID-19 tests available next week to healthcare providers in urgent care settings. The company is working with the Trump Administration to deploy tests to areas “where they can have the greatest impact,” Abbott officials said.