Abbott Labs ‘Chief Virus Hunter’ on its rapid testing product

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Abbott Laboratories’ antigen test with President Trump later agreeing to pay $750 million for 150 million tests. Dr. John Hackett, Abbott Laboratories, joins The Final Round to discuss the test and what it means for treating coronavirus.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: From Abbott Labs earlier today, the company announcing a rapid $5 COVID test. Joining us now to discuss this is Dr. John Hackett. He's a VP with Abbott, known as the firm's chief virus hunter.

We're also joined by Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani. So Dr. Hackett, thanks so much for joining the program today. I guess let's just start with what we as consumers and concerned citizens need to know about this test.

JOHN HACKETT: Well, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Abbott has been all in since the beginning of this pandemic. And with BinaxNOW, we're providing a reliable and affordable rapid test at massive scale. That should really help to overcome the current waiting game for test results. It will ultimately help slow the spread--

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Hackett--

JOHN HACKETT: --of the virus.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: --Anjalee. Dr. Hackett, Anjalee here, just wanted to get some more understanding around the focus that this test has for schools and offices and organizations. It seems like there's a lot at stake here for this test when it comes to sort of changing the game right now. So will you be able to meet that demand that is clearly coming in?

JOHN HACKETT: Well, this is a situation that as this project was initiated-- I mean, it was the vision to be able to have a test that would be reliable, portable, ideally no instrumentation required to allow it to get more widespread testing use, and to be able to produce it at massive scale. And so this was parallel in terms of the research and development activity to develop the test, and also to be able to scale, get the supply chain set, and investment in two new manufacturing facilities to be able to produce this test on scale, because we do believe it can be transformative in helping to open up society again.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: It seems like a lot of companies are already responding to that. When we look at even on the government side, we know that previously they had purchased the rapid PCR test. And now there are reports of them also looking at this new test. So can you explain why there's a difference between the two? What is the real change in what a government entity or any large entity will see between the rapid PCR test and this one?

JOHN HACKETT: So the real change-- and I'll hold up the card. I don't know whether that shows up well. But it's about the size of a credit card. So you get the idea of how portable.

And this is a situation where we use a nasal swab, so it's a very convenient sample for the health care provider as well as the individual being tested in that it's not painful. It's something that someone would be willing to do multiple times. And that swab, then, is just inserted into the card. The card is closed. And then the test is running.

And in 15 minutes, if there's a single line, it's a negative. And if there's two lines, then it's indicative of a positive test. So the difference here is the fact that this is so portable and could be used in so many different distributed sites. And so it allows health care providers to be able to do-- to test a lot more people a lot more quickly and get the results right away. And that is crucial, because the waiting game is a big issue. If you have to wait days for results, the question is, how many people does an infected person infect or transmit to in that period of time?

Here, you have immediately actionable information, that a person is identified as positive. They can self quarantine to slow the spread, ultimately. So the big difference both the convenience of the size, portability, and the price, affordability, and being able to do much more frequent testing, which is what is needed.

MYLES UDLAND: And Dr. Hackett, obviously, each government and large organization will have their own maybe standards for how many tests per 100,000, for example, might be acceptable and thinking about opening up and things like that. But in your maybe broad overview, how could this level of testing change I think the way many Americans are assuming this kind of lockdown or this kind of restricted activity has to continue? Does this shorten that kind of timeframe? Does this make things like schools more viable? How does it kind of change the assumptions, again, I think a lot of people are working under?

JOHN HACKETT: Well, we've certainly designed a product to try to do that and achieve exactly what you're saying. And, I guess, to put it in scope here, we'll be producing tens of millions of this test in September. And by October, we'll be producing 50 million of these tests a month. So this will enable far more testing.

To put it in perspective, today we do about 25 million tests of all types in the US a month. This is essentially doubling the capacity to do that on its own. And we are working and trying to do planning and logistics around can we even expand that further? Because there's no question that the ability to test larger numbers of people will have an impact, especially when you're getting an answer back quickly that's actionable.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Dr. Hackett, looking at this technology, as you just showed us, I think that you described it as similar to a pregnancy test. But in one way it isn't, and that is that it cannot actually be done at home yet. What are the barriers to actually getting at-home tests at this point?

JOHN HACKETT: Well, we're taking this one step at a time. And this is an evolving field. Our view initially was really focused on where there could be a health care provider, for example, a school, school nurse, workplace where you have occupational health, to begin to get these back functioning. As we look forward, absolutely, we need to think about other tests. And we are absolutely involved in doing that and trying to look for new opportunities.

There certainly are hurdles when you go to home testing. How is the test stored? How is the sample being taken? Is it being taken in a reliable way so that you're getting the result you should get? Is someone storing the test in their car, in a parking lot where the car's 130 degrees before they use the test?

I mean, there are a lot of factors that go into it. And so there's not only the technical hurdles. It's really showing it will function in a home setting in the way that people expect it to be able to function.

It is certainly-- we are looking forward. This field is evolving very rapidly. And so we're constantly looking forward, trying to identify better solutions to get people back to work, back to school, get our society open again.

MYLES UDLAND: All right, Dr. John Hackett with Abbott, again, company announcing a new rapid 15-minute $5 test yesterday. Dr. Hackett, thanks so much for joining the program. Hopefully we can talk soon.

JOHN HACKETT: Thank you.