Collaborative effort aids COVID-19 testing initiative

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a recent collaboration including U.S. Cotton, UnitedHealth Group, Quantigen, and the Gates Foundation has resulted in further COVID-19 testing option expansion.

Officials said the determination that spun synthetic swabs, with a design similar to Q-tips, could be used to test patients by collecting a sample from the front of the nose spurred U.S. Cotton’s development of a polyester-based Q-tip-type swab fully synthetic for compatibility with COVID-19 testing.

The finding is based on results from a clinical probe representing a collaboration involving the FDA, UnitedHealth Group, the Gates Foundation, and Quantigen.

“This action demonstrates the ingenuity that results from the FDA working in partnership with the private sector,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, said. “The Trump Administration has been working side-by-side with our industry partners to fight this pandemic, and today is a great example of that work. We appreciate work by UnitedHealth Group, Quantigen, and the Gates Foundation to perform and support the clinical studies necessary for this advancement.”

Hahn said the FDA acknowledges U.S. Cotton’s efforts to manufacture a new type of swab for COVID-19 testing that can be produced at scale.

“We appreciate the work of these collaborators to consider how these test supplies could be broadly distributed to meet not only the testing needs of the United States but also global needs around the pandemic,” he said. “All of these actions by these American organizations will help continue to expand our testing capability.”