US Strikes $760 Million Deal With Abbott For 150 Million Rapid Coronavirus Tests

A day after Abbott Laboratories (ABT) announced that it had received emergency use authorization from the FDA for its $5 coronavirus rapid antigen test, the company secured a $760 million deal with the U.S. for the delivery of 150 million tests.

The deal, which was led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, will potentially distribute the rapid coronavirus tests to schools and special needs population as part of an expansion of “strategic, evidence-bases testing” across the nation.

The test from Abbott – the BinaxNOW COVID-19 AG Card – does not require the use of additional equipment to provide test results, which are delivered in 15 minutes or less. The test uses a nasal swab to test for the coronavirus protein and has a portable footprint that is the size of a credit card.

“The introduction of Abbott’s antigen test is another incredibly valuable result of President Trump’s all-of-America approach to constructing our world-leading COVID-19 testing capacity,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “By strategically distributing 150 million of these tests to where they’re needed most, we can track the virus like never before and protect millions of Americans at risk in especially vulnerable situations.”

Abbott said it has the capacity to deliver 50 million tests per month starting in October. The company is hiring 2,000 temporary workers to facilitate the production and delivery of the tests at its new facility in Gurnee, Illinois.

The U.S. has reported over 5.8 million positive coronavirus tests and over 180,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Shares of Abbott were trading at $110.38 as of 10:22 a.m. EDT on Friday, down 91 cents or 0.82%.