FDA Authorizes 1st COVID-19 At-Home Saliva Test

By kmvq on May 11, 2020

RYBNIK, POLAND – MAY 08: A health worker wears a protective suit, gloves, mask and a face shield as she takes a saliva sample from a miner relative to test for COVID-19 at Rybnik Regional Hospital 3 on May 8, 2020 in Rybnik, Poland. Polish state-owned coal group PGG is to test 4,000 workers for coronavirus after hundreds of its miners were infected and 1,500 are already in quarantine, forcing three mines to close. Poland has reported over 15,000 COVID-19 cases and over seven hundred deaths. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)

On Friday, the FDA approved the first and only home saliva test for the coronavirus, according to UPI. The agency granted an emergency use authorization to a Rutgers University lab for the diagnostic test.

Patients with a prescription from a doctor can take the test and send the sealed sample back to the New Jersey lab for results. “A patient can open the kit, spit into the tube, put the cap back on and ship it back to our lab,” says Dr. Andrew Brooks, COO at RUCDR Infinite Biologics. “We bring the test to the patient, instead of the patient to the test.”

The saliva test is much more comfortable than the invasive nasal test and does not require that a patient interact with a healthcare worker who has to put on personal protective gear. Since the pandemic began, the FDA has authorized over 80 COVID-19 tests.