INTERVIEW
Bassem Bibi Divisional Vice President for Abbott’s Rapid Diagnostic Business in the Middle East & Africa
“Abbott has developed and launched 12 tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its antibodies"
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bbott has developed and launched 12 tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its antibodies and has so far delivered more than 1 billion tests globally. "Hospitals" magazine recently interviewed Mr. Bassem Bibi, Divisional Vice President for Abbott’s rapid diagnostic business in the Middle East & Africa who talked about Abbott’s rapid diagnostic tests and their role in detecting the virus.
What’s Abbott’s most important to contribution in curbing the spread of the coronavirus? Since the onset of the pandemic, diagnostics have been a focal point of the COVID-19 response and Abbott’s main goal has been to get as many tests as possible to as many people as possible. From the very beginning, we knew that no individual test would work in all settings, so we invested in R&D to quickly develop a suite of tests and manufacture them at a massive scale. Since early 2020, Abbott has developed and launched 12 tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its antibodies and has so far delivered more than 1 billion tests globally. Besides, Abbott has continued to make its full portfolio of nutritional, pharmaceutical and medical device products and solutions available to the people we serve around the world.
In many countries, rapid testing has demonstrated its worth as a viable tool in fighting the pandemic; how did Abbott play a role in that perspective? Rapid testing isn’t new to the Middle East and Africa – Abbott has worked in the region for decades to bring affordable and accessible
rapid tests for malaria, hepatitis, HIV, and other infectious diseases. In 2018 and 2019, Abbott supported the 100 Million SEHA campaign launched by the Ministry of Health in Egypt to screen the entire population of Egypt for hepatitis C by providing our rapid tests. Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic, more countries around the world have turned to rapid tests, like our Panbio and ID NOW tests, as an effective tool in limiting the spread of the virus and bringing the economy back to its feet.
Panbio Ag COVID-19 rapid test is one of several tests developed by Abbott. Can you explain what makes it so useful? Abbott's Panbio™ COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device is an accurate and affordable tool for healthcare professionals to detect active coronavirus infections at a massive scale to help slow virus spread. Panbio is one of the most widely studied rapid antigen tests in the world for COVID-19, with dozens of published studies, reaffirming its ability to detect the SARSCoV-2 virus in people, especially those who are infectious and therefore most likely to spread the virus. Abbott also obtained the CE Mark for the Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test on June 26th. This easy-to-use test allows people to test in the privacy of their homes by using a simple nasal swab (not the deep nasopharyngeal swab) with simple instructions to follow. With results available in 15 minutes, the test delivers results quickly enough to prevent people who are infected from potentially spreading the virus to others—and gets them back to school, work or living with more confidence. Rapid diagnostics
PANBIO IS ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY STUDIED RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS IN THE WORLD FOR COVID-19, WITH DOZENS OF PUBLISHED STUDIES, REAFFIRMING ITS ABILITY TO DETECT THE SARS-COV-2 VIRUS IN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE INFECTIOUS AND THEREFORE MOST LIKELY TO SPREAD THE VIRUS.
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