Roche plans to sell COVID-19 antigen lab tests by end-2020

ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche plans to start selling a higher-volume COVID-19 antigen test for laboratories by the end of the year as the Swiss drugmaker expands diagnostics for the pandemic.

“These fully automated systems can provide test results in 18 minutes for a single test (excluding time for sample collection, transport, and preparation), with a throughput of up to 300 tests per hour from a single analyser, depending on the analyser,” the group said in a statement.

The company did not immediately provide details on the accuracy of the antigen test compared to the more-common molecular tests that are now the industry standard in determining whether somebody has an active COVID-19 infection.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)