On this episode of Reopening America, Oscar Ramirez talks with @Pharmalot columnist and senior writer at STAT News, Ed Silverman, about a new saliva test for Covid-19 that was recently approved for use by the FDA. This test, developed at Yale University and partly funded by the NBA, is showing promise as a cheaper, quicker, and reliable alternative to the current swab tests, which have been beleaguered by supply chain issues; these issues have caused up to two-week delays for results, which is relatively useless in mitigating the spread of coronavirus. This new test could greatly expand testing capacity, as well as being a lot more comfortable for people to take. And the turnaround time for results is only two or three hours.
Ed explains that the swab tests use expensive reagents that extract the virus’s genetic material from the sample. Yale’s saliva test, called Saliva Direct, uses cheaper reagents and rely on a heating step to separate the genetic material. This saves hundreds of dollars, making tests more cost-efficient for healthcare providers. It isn’t the first saliva test developed; Rutgers University also released one, but Ed says it’s more expensive, around $60-$150 per test. Yale’s tests cost only $10, so their hope is that providers will be able to give tests without charging more than that – though he does point out that that “remains to be seen; where there’s money to be made, there’s money to be made.”
Because of the quarantine bubble they’ve put all the players in during the basketball season, the NBA has been constantly testing its players and staff, which is why they put some money into discovering a cheaper and more effective way of going about it. They found that the Saliva Direct test was accurate as often as the swab tests, “so when it comes to accuracy, they think that they’ve nailed it,” Oscar says. And because Yale developed it on what’s called an “open-source protocol,” it should be easier for the entire healthcare system to use and speed up turnaround times. “It seems to be good news all around,” Oscar says; hear more about these exciting developments on Reopening America.
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