Two New In-House COVID-19 Antibody Tests Help Save Costs
Post Date: October 21, 2020 | Publish Date:
Two new antibody assays developed and validated at Cincinnati Children’s are helping lab staff save costs on the rising frequency of COVID-19 serology testing–and are now available to the regional medical community.
The tests can be ordered via Epic link or via a downloadable PDF.
“We have now made COVID-19 serology available locally in-house in our clinical nephrology laboratory for rapid resulting and for a fraction of the cost of commercial assays,” says Prasad Devarajan, MD, Director, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension.
Now, clinicians and lab staff have three antibody testing options:
- The existing qualitative, total (IgG and IgM) antibody screen, specific for S1 RBD.
- A new qualitative IgG test that is specific for full-length spike. If positive, it will reflex to a quantitative IgG titer.
- A new panel of qualitative tests, also specific for full-length spike, that provides separate results for IgA, IgM, and IgG, with a reflex to quantitative titer for the IgG test, if positive.
“These new tests were developed and validated here by a multidisciplinary Research Foundation team. Many thanks for the hard work put forth by these team members who were motivated by a desire to make a local and regional impact on the fight against the pandemic,” says Paul Steele, MD, Medical Director of the Core Clinical Lab at Cincinnati Children’s.
Questions about the two new tests can be directed to the Clinical Nephrology lab at 513-636-4530.
