Posted on 04/17/2020 9:34:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Abbott Laboratories says it is ramping up production of its coronavirus test kits, including a new tool that could enable mass Covid-19 screening, as President Donald Trump seeks to reopen parts of the U.S. economy as early as next month.
The company is on track to ship 4 million this month of its new antibody tests, which indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 in the past and was either asymptomatic or recovered, Abbott CEO Robert Ford said during an earnings conference call with investors Thursday. It plans to ramp up to 20 million shipments per month, beginning in June, he said, adding there’s a need to manufacture more tests.
“It’s clear that the demand for testing is big, it’s not going to go away,” he told investors.
Abbott shares rose nearly 4% on Thursday after it reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s expectations. It suspended its full-year forecast, however, citing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 2 million people worldwide and killed at least 139,419 as of Thursday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Demand for its other diagnostic tests fell during the quarter as most Americans stayed home to slow the spread of the virus.
The Chicago-based medical equipment company has been deemed essential in getting the U.S. economy back on its feet. Abbott has launched three coronavirus tests in the United States, including a rapid test that produces results in as little as five minutes and the newly released test that shows if a person has antibodies against the virus. Ford told investors that the company is selling its new antibody test at the same price as its influenza tests.
The company is working with CVS Health to get its tests “outside of the hospital”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Good thing they are not in New York, Cuomo is a bit confused over the whole essential/non-essential thing.
Thank god for the private industry, I have to admit, they really stepped up to the plat throughout this ordeal. More so then I ever expected.
Now if our traitorous banks would do half what the private medical industry is doing, that would be something. But they will be foreclosing on homes probably next month.
RE: Thank god for the private industry, I have to admit, they really stepped up to the plat throughout this ordeal. More so then I ever expected.
There are some FReepers who post that Abbott’s testing is not that accurate.
bkmk
Had it not been for the CDC and FDA’s ridiculous rule that only they can develop tests, we would have had mass scale availability of antibody tests at the end of February instead of at the end of April.
That would have saved 1000’s of lives, 10s of millions of jobs, and trillions of dollars.
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