Company behind new FDA-approved coronavirus antibody test aims to produce millions of kits by June

Roche.
(Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Food and Drug Administration continues to expedite its approval time for technology that should help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

This time, the FDA cleared a coronavirus antibody test produced by Swiss diagnostics giant Roche for emergency use, the company said Sunday. The test identifies via blood samples antibodies made by the body to fight off the coronavirus. It could therefore determine whether a person had been infected with the virus in the past, even if the infection subsided.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.