Diagnostics, Policy

Pharmacies start selling over-the-counter Covid tests, but they’re too pricey to turn the tide

After the Food and Drug Administration authorized a swathe of over-the-counter tests for Covid-19, pharmacies are preparing to stock their shelves. But at $20 to $100 a pop, will enough people use them to make a difference?

Pharmacies are selling Abbott’s BinaxNOW Covid-19 test, which can be used without a prescription.

After the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorizations to a number of over-the-counter Covid-19 tests, pharmacies are preparing to stock their shelves. Walgreens, Walmart and CVS all announced Monday that they are selling Abbott’s Binax NOW antigen test, which got the green light to be sold without a prescription earlier this month.

Over-the-counter tests, which could improve access by not requiring a prescription or symptoms to get tested, are a big part of the Biden Administration’s Covid-19 response. But at current prices, they’re just too expensive to serve as a regular screening tool.

At $24 for a pack of two, Abbott’s antigen tests are one of the cheaper at-home testing options available.

CVS is currently charging $39 for an at-home antigen test developed by Ellume, which includes putting the sample into a small analyzer and getting a result through a smartphone app. Earlier this year, Australia-based Ellume won a $232 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to deliver 8.5 million tests and open a manufacturing facility in the U.S.

Finally, LabCorp’s Pixel at-home test kit will cost $125 at CVS. As it’s a PCR test, people will still need to mail in their sample for a result.

Those prices are “pretty steep, especially if you’re testing an entire family,” said Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Though they could work for the occasional use, “It’s not the dream of having the test that is even the same price as a pregnancy test, where you plan on using multiple tests.”

That said, Gronvall found herself ordering an at-home test at one point, for about $25, after her local testing site significantly decreased its hours. As states put more staff, resources and messaging toward vaccinations, fewer people are getting tested — although it’s still important. Her local testing site went down to being open for three days a week, three hours a day.

“The reason I use them is because the hours at the convention center where the state was doing testing in Baltimore City were so curtailed it was hard to manage with my work schedule,” she said. “There’s just been a general decrease in how open these testing sites are.”

Even as vaccines open to all adults across the U.S., there will still be a need for testing, especially since a vaccine hasn’t yet been approved for kids.

“There’s still a need for testing. People are going to want to have kids get tested before they go to congregate settings,” she said.

Shares0
Shares0