The Advanced Medical Technology Association, the medical device industry's largest trade group, has created a national COVID-19 diagnostic supply registry, designed to help the U.S. address any potential shortage of testing supplies.
The registry was developed in partnership with 13 commercial diagnostics manufacturers, including Abbott, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Roche. It will compile information from the diagnostic companies and publicly available data on daily COVID-19 tests performed to create a centralized COVID-19 diagnostic supply registry.
The registry's first publicly released dataset shows that, since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 65 million tests have been manufactured and shipped nationwide, with test shipments now topping 800,000 daily.
"It is absolutely vital to our nation’s health and economic recovery that we have sufficient supplies to test everyone who needs it, and, just as important, to know where these supplies are so we can get them where they are most needed," said Scott Whitaker, CEO of AdvaMed.
The registry will provide weekly state and national updates on the number of molecular, antigen and antibody tests shipped in the U.S., AdvaMed said. It will also facilitate collaboration between labs and public health stakeholders to help ensure any potential shortages are identified and addressed quickly.
Read AdvaMed's full news release here.