Under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded an Australian-based company $ 230 million to increase production of their Covid home test.
Ellume’s home tests, which received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December, were 95 percent accurate and provided users with Covid-19 results in 15 minutes.
Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to President Joe Biden’s Covid response team, announced Monday’s $ 1 million deal with Ellume during a press conference.
“They can be used if you experience Covid’s symptoms, and also for screening people without symptoms, so they can safely go to work, school and events,” said Slavitt. “After collecting the swab, you place the sample on a digital analyzer, which will send a result to your smartphone in about 15 minutes.
The money from this deal would increase domestic test manufacturing so that it could be more accessible to Americans. The test is offered over the counter for $ 30 per kit and sends the results to the phone after use.
With the money, Ellume would be able to produce 19 million test kits at home per month by the end of the year, 8.5 million of which guaranteed by the federal government, said Slavitt. The company would ship 100,000 home test kits to the United States each month from February to July.
When the company received emergency use authorization in December, it was manufacturing only about 16,000 tests per day.
This announcement was made at a time when health officials pleaded for months for testing to be easy and accessible to the public as a way to respond to the pandemic. Ellume’s home kit was one of three currently available, but it is the only one that does not require a prescription to be purchased.
The United States has prioritized vaccine manufacturing, distribution and administration in the past month to respond to the pandemic. But it was still necessary to emphasize the tests so that residents could isolate themselves if the test was positive.
In addition to increasing production in the millions for his home tests, Ellume said on Monday that he would use the financing to build a factory based in the United States. The company did not reveal a deadline for when all this would happen.
This new agreement was financed through the Health Care Enhancement Act (HCEA), to support national production of essential medical resources.