The DxTerity Covid-19 Saliva home collection kit, which received an emergency use authorization last month from the Food and Drug Administration, appears to be the only home-made coronavirus test for sale on Amazon. The kit is currently available in a single package that costs $ 110 and in a package of 10 for $ 1,000.
The kits are not new, but DxTerity says their version is the first home saliva test to receive this FDA authorization for symptomatic and asymptomatic tests. The DxTerity kit includes an empty saliva tube to be sent to a Los Angeles-based laboratory with prepaid shipping, and the response time for the results is 24 to 72 hours after receiving the sample, according to kit description on Amazon.
In many places, on-site Covid-19 tests are available free of charge or at a low cost. But some consumers may be willing to pay extra for the convenience of a homemade kit.
And while a saliva test can provide accurate results, a molecular test using a nasal swab is usually the best option, Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, a senior faculty editor at Harvard Health Publishing, told CNN’s Julia Chatterley last April. Nasal smears have fewer false negatives than other diagnostic tests or samples of smears from the throat or saliva, he said.
DxTerity says its saliva test kits are already used by more than 130 corporate partners in the United States, including Fortune 500 companies and pharmaceutical organizations, the company said. But the ability of consumers buying the kit on Amazon is a novelty.
“We want to expand access to home and small business customers,” said Bob Terbrueggen, Ph.D., founder and CEO of DxTerity in a company press release, adding that Amazon is the perfect partner to “expand access to millions of American customers. “