Fast, home-covered tests come off shelves across the country and are largely sold online, as the delta variant complicates back-to-school, work, and travel routines.
But at $ 10 or $ 15 per test, the price is still too high for regular use by anyone less than the rich. A family with two school-age children may have to spend $ 500 or more a month to try to keep their family and others safe.
For Americans looking for quick answers, the cheapest over-the-counter cavity test is the two-pack of Abbina Laboratories BinaxNOW for $ 23.99. Nearby are Quidel’s QuickVue tests, at $ 15 for savings. However, supplies are declining. Following an increase in demand, CVS is limiting the number of tests people can buy and the Amazon and Walgreen website ran out as of Friday afternoon.
President Joe Biden said Thursday he would invoke the Defense Production Act to make 280 million fast-paced tests available. The administration reached an agreement with Walmart, Amazon and Kroger to sell evidence “up to 35 percent less” than current retail prices for three months. For those with Medicaid, home tests will be completely covered, Biden said.
An increase in supply should help lower prices. As schools open and much of the country dampens without pandemic-related restrictions, epidemiologists say widespread control of rapid tests, along with vaccination and the use of masks, is critical to controlling the spread of pandemics. the delta variant. Still, scarcity, little competition, and high, sticky prices keep fast, routine testing out of the reach of most Americans, even if prices drop by 35%.
Consumers elsewhere have much cheaper (or free) options. In Germany, grocery stores sell quick-covated tests for less than $ 1 per test. In India they are about $ 3.50. The UK offers 14 free trials per person. Canada distributes free quick tests to companies.
Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, praised Biden’s announcement on Twitter while he said he “had some reservations” about his scale and noted that 280 million tests represent “less than one test per person over a year.”
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) For months has advocated rapid testing at a lower cost. “In an ideal world, a test would be free or cost less than a dollar, so people could do it a couple of times a week every day,” he said in the days leading up to Biden’s announcement.
Biden’s initiative “is a great start” for broader rapid testing, Schrier said Friday. “But there is much more to be done, and this needs to be done quickly, to use this all-important tool to fight this virus.”
A nationwide survey published in February by Harvard School of Public Health TH Chan and Hart Research found that 79% of adults would get tested regularly at home if quick tests cost a dollar. But only a third would do it if the cost was $ 25.
Billions of dollars from taxpayers have been invested in these products. Abbott Laboratories, for example, earned hundreds of millions in federal contracts and gave revenue to its shareholders last year, increasing its quarterly dividend by 25%. However, according to a New York Times investigation, as the demand for rapid tests grew in early summer, Abbott destroyed supplies and fired workers who had been making them.
More than a year ago, Abbott said the company would sell its BinaxNOW in bulk for $ 5 per test to health care providers, but that option is not available to the public without a prescription. Even with the expected price decrease, a two-pack exceeds $ 15. Abbott did not comment further.
Schrier said in the spring that test prices were high because “big companies buy all the supplies.” Also, “their profits are much higher by doing 1,000 $ 30 tests than $ 30,000 1,” meaning they can earn the same amount of money for many fewer tests.
In March, the Biden administration allocated $ 10 billion as part of the U.S. rescue plan law to conduct coveted tests in schools, leaving the release largely to states. This followed after $ 760 million was spent by the Trump administration to buy 150 million of Abbott’s fast-response antigen tests, many of which went to schools. The launch has been mixed, with states like Missouri embroiled in logistical challenges.
In late August, Schrier wrote a letter asking four federal agencies to update their distribution plans. He also urged the government to increase spending on quick tests, saying “time is of the essence” when children return to school.
Antigen testing can provide real-time information to people exposed to covid, said Dr. Dara Kass, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Waiting for lab results from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests can take days and many states, especially south of the city, are seeing appointments fill up days before. Home collection kits for PCR testing can cost more than $ 100.
Rapid tests take less than 15 minutes to detect covides identifying proteins, called antigens. The tests are similar to a pregnancy test, with one or two lines shown, depending on the result.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that fully vaccinated people exposed to covid wear a mask indoors for two weeks and be tested three or five days after exposure. Unvaccinated people should be quarantined for 14 days. But that leaves a gray area for vaccinated people who expect to attend classes or make their living, Kass said.
“Rapid testing provides information,” he added, “that allows someone to participate in society safely.” People can be followed up with a PCR test, which is more sensitive, to confirm the diagnosis.
In Massachusetts, for example, a “test and stay” strategy for students exposed to covid allows them to stay in school: students take BinaxNOW tests five days in a row after close contact with an infected person.
More than 30 antigen tests have been developed in the United States, although only six companies have FDA approval for over-the-counter use. No rapid covide test has full FDA approval. Two rapid molecular choices, made by Lucira Health and Cue Health, also have emergency use authorization (US).
“Unfortunately, many submissions are incomplete or contain insufficient information for the FDA to determine that they meet legal criteria,” FDA spokesman James McKinney said.
The agency has taken a stricter stance than its European counterparts. In June, the FDA warned Americans to stop using Innova Medical Group’s rapid antigen test, saying the agency had “significant concerns that test performance has not been properly established.” . However, in the UK, which has billions worth of contracts with the California company, the regulatory agency accepted the product.
In Germany, regulators have given special authorization to dozens of antigen tests.
“As long as these tests are regulated as medical devices, the FDA must regulate them not as critical public health tools, but as medical tools, with all the onerous clinical trials slowing down the entire pace 100 times,” he said. dir Mina he said on Twitter.
With just a handful of quick tests on the market, it’s harder for companies that haven’t yet received FDA approval to catch up and in turn reduce prices, said Michael Greeley, co-founder and general partner of Flare Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on healthcare technology. “If we talk about people testing their children every day to go to school,” he added, “for many families, the current costs are a real burden.”
The widespread adoption of rapid testing seems premature, he said, even with a massive purchase of evidence by the U.S. government: “We can’t even get people to use dental floss, so the idea that now people start fast testing as standard operation the procedure is a faulty assumption “.
Regardless, companies cannot keep up with demand.
Ellume said he experienced a 900% increase in test usage over the past month. His quick test at home costs up to $ 38.99. On the Walmart website, it was trading at $ 26.10 on Friday, but was sold out.
The Australian manufacturer received $ 232 million from the U.S. Department of Defense in February to increase production, after the FDA authorized its use at home late last year. But the Federal Health Care Improvement Act, which provided the funding, does not impose price restrictions. Ellume said production will begin at a plant in Frederick, Maryland, this fall. At the moment, these are shipping tests from Australia.
This summer, Lucira Health stopped selling its nearly $ 50 molecular fast test online to focus on larger customers, including the San Francisco Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors and the Olympics, said Dan George, chief financial officer of Lucira, during the latest gains. named.
The company continues to lose money as production increases, but expects to resell directly to its website and Amazon later this year.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues. Along with policy analysis and survey, KHN is one of the three main operational programs of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is a gifted non-profit organization that provides information on health issues in the nation.