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The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a home test for COVID-19, which can now be sold without a prescription in pharmacies. The test includes a nasal swab test stick, a chemical solution and a test strip, says AP. The nasal stick is connected to a smartphone application that sends the result to the user via bluetooth in 15-20 minutes.
– By approving a test for over-the-counter use, the FDA allows it to be sold in places like pharmacies, where a patient can buy it, slip their nose, run the test and find out the result in as little as 20 minutes, says the head of the FDA, Stephen Hahn. to The Guardian.
According to the FDA, the Ellume company’s test can correctly identify 96 percent of positive COVID-19 samples and 100 percent of negative samples among people who have symptoms. Among people without symptoms, the numbers are 91 and 96 percent, respectively.
DN has been in contact with one Several Swedish pharmacies and several claim they are considering starting to sell home tests.
“We have been courted by a supplier who has such a test, but we have not made any decisions yet,” says Magnus Frisk, Apoteket’s press contact, in an email.
Lloyd’s pharmacy hopes to be able to offer testing soon.
“At the moment, we do not offer home testing, but we are investigating the matter with current vendors as we see high demand. So we hope to offer it soon. But the quality assurance of these tests is currently the top priority, “says Marketing Director Annelie Söderberg.
Andreas Rosenlund, chief information officer at Kronan’s pharmacy, says they are looking into the matter and that the home tests are obviously interesting.
“We believe that there is great interest in home tests with good quality,” he writes.
The nasal stick in the Ellume test is connected to a smartphone app, which sends the result to the user via bluetooth.
Photo: Ellume via AP
Pharmacy Hjärtat and Meds online pharmacy He currently has no plans to start selling home tests.
“As far as we know, it is not relevant to sell home tests for active viruses through pharmacies at this time. Home tests for covid-19 are ordered through healthcare,” writes Annika Svedberg, Apotek Hjärtat’s chief pharmacist .
“We have no concrete plans to start selling home tests anytime soon, but we are following developments in the world and Sweden with enthusiasm and we are usually quick when there is demand for new products,” writes Marika Baltscheffsky, Marketing Manager at Meds.
According to Eva – Lena Hartman, group manager of medical technology at the Medical Products Agency, the pharmacies themselves choose which tests they want to include in their range. At the same time, it emphasizes the importance of the tests being CE-marked, which means that they are examined by a certification body.
– Accuracy and performance can vary greatly between these tests. Not many tests have been third-party tested by an audit body, he says.
There is also a requirement that the instructions for use must be in Swedish, that the performance of the test is indicated, and that there are instructions on what to do if the test is positive, that is, you have an active infection in the body.
– In many of the cases, it has instructions that say that you should verify the test result through medical attention.
Read more:
Government: regions that vaccinate the most must be rewarded
Seven Questions Answered About Corona Vaccines
