Speaker 1: It's Friday, August fourteen. I'm Oscar Emrrors from the Daily
Speaker 1: Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.
Speaker 1: Doctor's offices, nursing homes, and federal officials are in a
Speaker 1: scramble to obtain point of care COVID nineteen tests from
Speaker 1: the only two companies that have emergency approval to produce them.
Speaker 1: There have been some concern about accuracy with these tests,
Speaker 1: but they are useful for quicker results and don't need
Speaker 1: to be sent away to a lab. Sarah Krause, reporter
Speaker 1: for The Wall Street Journal, joins us for more. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us, Sarah, thanks for having me. We've been
Speaker 1: talking about testing throughout this whole process of the coronavirus pandemic,
Speaker 1: and one of the tests that everybody has kind of
Speaker 1: been looking for these point of care COVID nineteen tests.
Speaker 1: Something that you could find in a doctor's office and
Speaker 1: nursing home, something like that where you can just basically
Speaker 1: go take the test there and maybe twenty minutes later
Speaker 1: you'd get your results. And right now we only have
Speaker 1: two companies that are approved to actually make and distribute
Speaker 1: these things, but there's so much demand for them. It's
Speaker 1: really hard for them to keep up, right now, So
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about these sure, So these
Speaker 1: are as you say, point of care tests that sit
Speaker 1: you know, in a doctor's office in a nursing home
Speaker 1: and deliver results in about fifteen minutes. And what I
Speaker 1: was writing about in particular, are rapid response antigen tests,
Speaker 1: so they are looking for virus proteins while some other
Speaker 1: tests look for the virus is genetic material Um. But
Speaker 1: for this particular type of tests, which represents a small
Speaker 1: but growing area of COVID nineteen testing in the US,
Speaker 1: there are two companies that have Emergency Youth authorization for
Speaker 1: their tests. One is struggling to produce enough analyzers to
Speaker 1: meet demand and the other is struggling to make enough tests. Now,
Speaker 1: what is the accuracy of these I know that we've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of stories about how sometimes they can
Speaker 1: deliver false negatives, things like that, how do these tests fair?
Speaker 1: That is still a concern um and early sort of
Speaker 1: figures said that these tests had a higher chance of
Speaker 1: producing a false negative than the sort of pcror molecular
Speaker 1: tests that were out there at the time. Now, federal
Speaker 1: officials have said that as these tests are more widely used.
Speaker 1: It's becoming clear that the accuracy is more comparable, but
Speaker 1: it's still a concern. Some doctor's offices have said, you know,
Speaker 1: they're a little bit wary and and really because they
Speaker 1: don't want to tell someone that they're negative and let
Speaker 1: them go back to school or go back to work,
Speaker 1: and when in fact, um they are infected. So in
Speaker 1: some cases this does require a follow up molecular test.
Speaker 1: So who are these two companies that are the only
Speaker 1: ones authorized at this moment? If you mentioned that they
Speaker 1: each have their own kind of unique problems, So tell
Speaker 1: us who the two companies are sure? So one is
Speaker 1: quite al corp and one is backed in Dickinson and Company.
Speaker 1: And these two companies create both the test as well
Speaker 1: as the analyzer or box that you insert the test
Speaker 1: in to get the result. So you need that, you know,
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, that ecosystem has a lot of
Speaker 1: different components that all have to fit together to create
Speaker 1: a system that works. And these are testing systems that
Speaker 1: also run flu tests or strep tests, and some of
Speaker 1: them were already in circulation prior to the pandemic. But
Speaker 1: because they're such a thirst for COVID testing, particularly testing
Speaker 1: that delivers results in minutes rather than days. Their systems
Speaker 1: are in high demand. Um. So it's it's about being
Speaker 1: able to get access to both the analyzer to run
Speaker 1: the test as well as the test themselves. And now
Speaker 1: one of the important questions for everything how much do
Speaker 1: they cost? Because they have a unique structure with how
Speaker 1: to either buy them you can lease them. Let's say
Speaker 1: you know, by the box, but buy a bunch of
Speaker 1: other tests for flu and strep throat, including COVID tests.
Speaker 1: They have like this weird structure on how to acquire
Speaker 1: these things. Yeah, there's different sales policies at each company.
Speaker 1: But if we look at Quitel for example, um, they
Speaker 1: sell the analyzers outright for about each or they give
Speaker 1: the analyzer for free if you agree to buy a
Speaker 1: certain number of tests COVID and non COVID to to
Speaker 1: run on it. Um and so um. You know that
Speaker 1: this is something that practices. You know, small either pediatricians
Speaker 1: or doctor's offices are trying to figure out what they
Speaker 1: can afford. You know, do they need to use one
Speaker 1: of these companies flu tests, you know, instead of what
Speaker 1: they're currently using because in buying them along with COVID tests,
Speaker 1: they're able to get this machine. So there is sort
Speaker 1: of a business choice that some practices that want these
Speaker 1: machines are having to make, you know, and in the background,
Speaker 1: the federal government has placed a large order for a
Speaker 1: lot of these machines to dispatch their nursing homes where
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of outbreaks and really an outbreak
Speaker 1: settings or where experts say these tests are useful. Um,
Speaker 1: they can help you sort of quickly identify people who
Speaker 1: are infected and and then isolate and do contact tracing
Speaker 1: from there. So the ability to quickly get information that
Speaker 1: you can act on is the main benefit of this
Speaker 1: type of test. I know right now, obviously we're facing
Speaker 1: surgeon cases and a lot of places and there's the
Speaker 1: need for mass testing. But do they feel that these
Speaker 1: kind of point of contact tests are going to be
Speaker 1: the future by basically when maybe we don't need as
Speaker 1: much testing, these are the ones that they're going to
Speaker 1: be using primarily, you know, I think in particularly over
Speaker 1: the next several months, you know, we're going to have
Speaker 1: a mix of tests. These tests, these rapid antigen tests
Speaker 1: are a pretty small component of testing in the US
Speaker 1: right now, but they're expected to grow rapidly. There are
Speaker 1: other molecular point of care tests. You know, the habit
Speaker 1: I D now is one that that folks might have
Speaker 1: heard about. Um, those are also used in you know,
Speaker 1: doctor's office type settings. So right now we're at this
Speaker 1: moment where there are a number of new testing technologies
Speaker 1: that are being brought online that will continue to diversify
Speaker 1: that pool. Um, you know, so it's sort of influx
Speaker 1: at this time. Most of the tests that the average
Speaker 1: consumer is getting right now is a molecular or so
Speaker 1: called like PCR test. And when it comes to the
Speaker 1: shortages that these companies are facing, is it kind of
Speaker 1: the same shortages that a lot of other testing needs
Speaker 1: are you know, swabs, different things like that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's swabs, and it's pure manufacture during capacity um, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of being able to crank these machines and
Speaker 1: and and tests out fast enough to then dispatch to
Speaker 1: all the places where they're wanted and needed. I mean,
Speaker 1: it definitely seems like these rapid response tests are going
Speaker 1: to be increasing in demand overall. As we mentioned doctors,
Speaker 1: nursing homes, it would be great to just have something
Speaker 1: so you don't have to wait days and you can
Speaker 1: get that answer right away. But just like everywhere else,
Speaker 1: the demand is so great and the supplies are so few,
Speaker 1: it's they're just having a hard time keep up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, I think in July, you know, when
Speaker 1: you saw people waiting two weeks or even longer for
Speaker 1: the results of diagnostic tests that were sent all the
Speaker 1: way out to labs, it's sort of underscored the importance
Speaker 1: of immediate results that you can act on and and
Speaker 1: sort of have information that can lead to, you know,
Speaker 1: subsequent decisions to isolate or contact trace. You know, so
Speaker 1: there's a thirst for for answers quickly now. Sarah Krause,
Speaker 1: reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thank you so much. I'm Oscar Ramirez
Speaker 1: and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that. For
Speaker 1: today's big news stories, you can check me out on
Speaker 1: the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow
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