Abbott’s COVID-19 Antigen Test Shows Promise for Asymptomatic Patients

Abbott Laboratories’ antigen-based Panbio COVID-19 test was effective in screening for coronavirus infections in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, according to findings from a study conducted in Spain.

Researchers tested 1,406 frozen swabs and compared the results to those from a polymerase chain-reaction test. They determined that Panbio was highly sensitive for detecting the virus’ presence in nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs.

“The diagnostic performance of the test is particularly good in samples with viral loads associated with high risk of viral transmission,” the researchers said.