Plymouth Meeting’s ECRI Institute releases evaluation of at-home COVID-19 antigen test kits

The Plymouth Meeting-based ECRI Institute this week released its evaluation of at-home COVID-19 antigen test kits.

Note that this was a “usability” evaluation and not for accuracy. On its website, ECRI states that it rarely finds differences between FDA-approved products when it comes to accuracy, but notes that these tests were approved under an Emergency Use Authorization, and do not yet have full approval.

Seven brands of tests were evaluated that ECRI found available for purchase in-store and online in December of 2021. They are BD Veritor, BinaxNOW, CareStart, Flowflex, InteliSwab, On/Go, and QuickVue.

From Marcus Schabacker, MD, Ph.D., president and CEO of ECRI:

ECRI’s evaluation showed that some rapid tests are much easier to use than others. If given an option, consumers should choose the test that ranked highly. Difficulty using a test can lead to errors.

On/Go, CareStart, and FlowFlex were the top-rated tests. You can view the full report here.

6ABC Action News also reported on the evaluation. Watch below.

Photo: ECRI Institute