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 Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said
existing testing technology still relies on sending samples to labs
for results, and new technologies must be developed to deliver tests
that rapidly deliver results on site and be widely distributed.
"We believe it is not just a matter of taking what we have and
making it higher throughput, we need new technologies that have
these more appropriate features," Collins said.
Collins' comments echoed those by Deborah Birx, coordinator of the
White House's coronavirus task force, who said last month that "we
have to have a breakthrough innovation in testing" in order to fully
reopen the economy.
A shortage of tests has hampered the U.S. response to the COVID-19
pandemic, which has killed about 74,000 people in the country and
infected more than 1.2 million. In April, the NIH announced plans to
fund development of new testing technologies in academia and
business, and scale them up by the end of summer.
The project, called Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx), has a
total of $1.5 billion in federal backing and will also invest in
ongoing NIH research into testing technologies.
A Harvard University study released in April said the United States
may need capacity to conduct as many as 20 million tests per day to
fully reopen the economy. A total of about 7.8 million tests have
been conducted in the country so far, according to the COVID
Tracking Project, a volunteer group that monitors tests results.
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The hearing, hosted by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, focused on COVID-19 testing. Witnesses included Collins and Gary
Disbrow, acting director of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development
Authority.
NIH also announced plans in April to help drugmakers prioritize the most
promising vaccines and treatments and speed them through clinical trials and
regulatory approvals.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is also working with
drugmakers and non-profits to help develop vaccines and therapies.
Currently, there are no approved vaccines to prevent COVID-19 infections. No
treatments have been developed yet to fight the disease, although the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration has given emergency approval for use of Gilead Science
Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir on patients.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell; Editing by David Gregorio)
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