Abbott Laboratories Monday hit back at a New York University study that suggested its coronavirus tests are inaccurate, saying only a handful of the tests may have returned false-negative results.
“Nearly 1.5 million of these tests have been performed and there are 15 cases that have been reported to Abbott or to the FDA that suggests that the test may have had a false negative value." John Hackett, the vice president of Applied Research and Technology for Abbott Diagnostics told Fox News's "America's Newsroom" about the study, which has prompted a Food and Drug Administration probe.
The preliminary data from the 15-minute test, which is used daily at the White House for President Donald Trump and key members of his staff and coronavirus task force, showed that it can falsely clear patients of illness.
Hackett said the NYU study, which suggested the Abbott test could miss half of infections, was neither peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
"Hundreds of hospitals, doctors' offices, urgent care centers, mobile units and municipalities" use the tests, said Hackett, and they are saying the tests are operating as they should be.
However, the researchers said that of 100 samples, Abbott's test missed one-third of the infections when the swabs used to test for samples were stored in liquid and 48% when they were kept dry.
“[NYU] didn’t answer some important questions about when patients were sampled relative to the symptoms. The analysis of their data appears to be highly skewed from a typical distribution than to be observed so that really raises concerns of this study,” Hackett said, adding that he "absolutely" recommends it for public use.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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