Federal officials this weekend gave emergency service approval to a coronavirus detection test that Yale University researchers used on NBA players and staff.
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In a statement, Food and Drug Administration Commission Stephen Hanh called the test “groundbreaking,” in part because it does not require additional components, which are jealous of deficiencies required by the standard nasal swab COVID-19 test.
The test, known as SalivaDirect, “is simpler, cheaper and less invasive than the traditional method for such tests,” Yale said in a news release Saturday.
Due to the authorization, the tests can bypass the regular approval process of the department.
SalivaDirect does not rely on proprietary technology, and Yale researchers do not intend to commercialize it, the university said. The researchers will provide protocols to other diagnostic laboratories that can then use commercially available equipment to perform the test, the department said.
Nathan Grubaugh, one of the researchers who developed the test, said he expects labs to cost roughly $ 10 per sample.
“If cheap alternatives like SalivaDirect can be implemented nationwide, we can finally get a grip on this pandemic, even before it is a vaccine,” Grubaugh said, according to the Yale news release.
Yale announced the study in June. The investigators collaborate with the NBA because their players and staff on the court test regularly, they are in close contact with each other and they do not wear face masks.
Yale said the accuracy of the results, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were comparable to the nasal swab test.
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