As an early adopter of this ground-breaking technology, Arbor Diagnostics was the 7th group in the country to partner with Roche

Pathology_Group_Image

As an early adopter of this ground-breaking technology, Arbor Diagnostics was the 7th group in the country to partner with Roche. (Credit: Arbor Diagnostics.)

Arbor Diagnostics, a Dallas-based pathology practice, is the first group based in North Texas to offer Roche’s SARS-CoV-2 Total Antibody Serology test to local healthcare providers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay on May 3rd.  As an early adopter of this ground-breaking technology, Arbor Diagnostics was the 7th group in the country to partner with Roche.  Arbor now has the ability to provide Roche’s COVID-19 antibody test to medical practice providers across the country.  Roche’s qualitative assay is designed to detect antibodies in a blood sample, helping physicians determine their patients’ recent or past COVID-19 exposure.

“We are proud to offer this ground-breaking serological test to augment COVID-19 testing throughout the communities that we serve,” said Angela Smith, VP of Operations at Arbor Diagnostics. “This comprehensive antibody assay helps to lay the groundwork for getting our country back to work and eventually pre-pandemic life, by providing a picture of the patient’s COVID-19 exposure history,” she continued. Ultimately, the ability to test for the presence of these antibodies may help limit the spread of COVID-19, and further vital research into the virus’ global impact.

Arbor Diagnostics continues to partner with healthcare providers and researchers around the country to find new and innovative ways to become part of the solution to this global viral pandemic.  On May 18th, Arbor also began offering Hologic’s Panther Fusion® SARS-CoV-2 Assay (RT-PCR) TMA version, which also received EUA approval by the FDA and is authorized for use on respiratory specimens collected from individuals who are suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider.

About the Roche SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Test

Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 is an immunoassay for the in-vitro qualitative detection of antibodies (including IgG) to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human serum and plasma.  Based on the measurement of a total of 5272 samples, the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay has 99.81% specificity and shows no cross-reactivity to the four human coronaviruses causing the common cold. This means it can lower the chance of false positives because it is so specific to detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and not other coronaviruses that may only cause the common cold. Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 detected antibodies with 100% sensitivity in samples taken 14 days after a PCR-confirmed infection.

Source: Company Press Release