Abbott Laboratories (ABT) said late Friday that it received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a rapid COVID-19 test. Abbott stock rose 2.1% in the extended session Friday. The company said that the molecular point-of-care test can be run with one of Abbot's portable platforms called ID Now and will detect a positive result for COVID-19 in “as little as five minutes” and determine negative results in 13 minutes. The portable testing platform weighs 6.6 pounds and is about the size of a small toaster, the company said, and is “already the most widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform in the U.S. today.”
Abbott said that it will make the rapid tests available to healthcare providers involved in urgent care next week and is working with the government to determine where they can have the largest impact. The company said that between this and a separate testing platform it will have the capacity for about five million tests a month.
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