Total Shipments of Molecular COVID-19 Tests Top 200 Million Mark

As of Oct. 16, total U.S. shipments of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tests have topped the 200 million mark, according to the AdvaMed COVID-19 Diagnostic Supply Registry (Registry). On average, diagnostics companies are shipping, over 1.4 million molecular tests every day. Registry data also show that approximately 121 million COVID-19 molecular tests have been administered.

The AdvaMed Registry

Since the pandemic began, federal and state government response actions have been impaired by the lack of widely available national data on COVID-19 testing and supplies has been a problem impairing since the pandemic began. On July 21, with that problem in mind, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) launched a national COVID-19 diagnostic supply registry compiling information from diagnostic companies with publicly available daily test data.  The Registry provides weekly state and national updates on the number of molecular and serology (antibody) tests shipped in the U.S. AdvaMed and AdvaMedDx, the association’s diagnostics division, developed the Registry in partnership with 13 commercial diagnostics manufacturers:

• Abbott;
• Becton Dickinson;
• bioMérieux;
• Bio-Rad;
• Beckman Coulter;
• Cepheid;
• Hologic;
• Ortho Clinical Diagnostics;
• QIAGEN;
• Roche Diagnostics;
• Sekisui Diagnostics;
• Siemens Healthineers; and
• Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Key Registry Findings

According to the Registry, as of Oct. 16:

• The 13 Registry participants have shipped over 200 million cumulative molecular COVID-19 tests nationwide since March 2020, including approximately 145 million commercial tests and 55 million extraction reagents​;
• On a week to week basis, the number of daily molecular tests run increased approximately 5 percent compared to the previous week (October 9), up to an average of approximately 1.1 million tests per day;
• High-quality serology testing authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration remains available at scale with industry capacity to manufacture 100 million tests per month.

Registry participants are also bringing antigen testing to the market with significant manufacturing capacity, the Oct. 16 report notes.

Source: AdvaMed COVID-19 Diagnostic Supply Registry

Takeaway

“For the past few months, our diagnostics companies have made it clear they’ll do whatever it takes to stay ahead of COVID-19 testing demand to help bring this pandemic under control,” Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of AdvaMed said in a press release, “200 million molecular tests shipped nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic is a remarkable testament to their commitment to saving lives.”