COVID-19 molecular diagnostic test shipments surpass 150M in U.S.

Total U.S. shipments of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tests have reached more than 150 million, based on the latest data from the AdvaMed COVID-19 testing supply registry.

Manufacturers shipped nearly 8.5 million tests per week in August, up from 3.7 million weekly in April, the medtech trade group noted. AdvaMed launched the registry July 21 to aid state and federal pandemic responses.

“We anticipate test manufacturers will ship between 32 and 35 million molecular tests in September,” said AdvaMed president & CEO Scott Whitaker in a news release. “Add to that the more than 100 million antigen tests expected to be shipped by the end of fall, and it’s clear our industry is committed to meeting the demands of the COVID-19 crisis.”

AdvaMed’s registry compiles information from leading diagnostics companies along with publicly available data on daily tests performed to create a centralized and standardized COVID-19 diagnostic supply registry. The registry provides weekly state- and national-level updates on the number of molecular, and serology (antibody) tests shipped in the U.S. to help state and federal governments in their pandemic responses.

AdvaMed and AdvaMedDx, the group’s diagnostics companies division, developed the registry in partnership with 13 commercial diagnostics manufacturers: Abbott, BD, bioMérieux, Bio-Rad, Beckman Coulter, Cepheid, Hologic, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, QIAGEN, Roche Diagnostics, Sekisui Diagnostics, Siemens Healthineers and Thermo Fisher Scientific.