Houston lab to test for coronavirus antibodies

A Houston area medical diagnostic lab is now capable of testing thousands of blood samples for coronavirus antibodies.

SynerGene Laboratories, a facility owned by Principle Health Systems, is offering a COVID-19 test developed by pharmaceuticals giant, Abbott Labs. It tests for antibodies for the novel coronavirus, which means it can detect whether you have been exposed to it or not.

James Dieter, the CEO of Principle Health Systems, said what differentiates this test from various other antibody screenings is that the Abbott Labs version is approved the Food and Drug Administration.

"There are a lot of tests on the market right now that are not, but Abbott did go through the painstaking process of getting FDA approval," Dieter said.

Dieter adds his lab performs daily calibrations on equipment and quality control checks test results for reliability. He said that his lab could potentially process up to a half-million coronavirus antibody tests per month.

Dozens of blood tests are being marketed in the United States that are not entirely accurate and are not comparable to each other, according to a report released by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

Dozens of blood tests are being marketed in the United States that are not entirely accurate and are not comparable to each other, according to a report released this week by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

Even a small rate of false positives can substantially distort the understanding of how many people have been infected. It's even possible false positives could outnumber real positives.

The Food and Drug Administration is overseeing a validation process for ensuring that commercial tests are accurate. So far the agency has authorized only four. Dozens of other tests are being marketed in the U.S. without such authorization.

The Abbott Labs test received "Emergency Use Authorization" by the FDA, an expedited approval that can be used during a public health crisis. In a press release, the company says it plans on shipping millions of these tests out to labs in the US.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine questions the value of antibody tests at this point in the pandemic. "Being antibody positive is not really informing you that it's okay to go back to work," Dr. Hotez said, "because the vast majority of Americans are not going to be antibody positive, certainly not down in Texas."

Hotez said there value increases as time goes and that perhaps antibody tests "may become relevant because if you know you're antibody positive you may or may not need a vaccine." Researchers around the world are still working on finding a COVID-19 vaccine.