September 25, 2020: Accelerating the Nation’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity: An Update from the NIH’s RADx Program (Rick Bright, PhD; Rachael Fleurence, PhD)

Speakers

Rick Bright, PhD
Senior Advisor to the NIH Director

Rachael Fleurence, PhD
Special Assistant to the NIH Director for COVID-19 Diagnostics

Topic

Accelerating the Nation’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity: An Update from the NIH’s RADx Program

Keywords

National Institutes of Health; COVID-19; Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx); COVID-19 testing protocols; Innovative technologies; Coronavirus testing

Key Points

  • The NIH launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
  • RADx is creating programs to rapidly scale-up testing across the country and enhance access to those most in need. Newer technologies offer user-friendly designs with lower cost and increased accessibility at home and at the point of care.
  • Deploying the right tests at the right time to the right people will be critical to managing the pandemic until a vaccine is available and beyond. Testing will still be necessary after the vaccine becomes available.

Discussion Themes

The supply chain continues to be a challenge in COVID-19 testing procedures, for example the availability of plastic tips and swabs. However, barriers are driving innovations such as saliva technologies and extraction-less approaches.

Are there efforts underway to link testing data from disparate sources such as EHR clinical data, administrative claims data, antibody testing, symptom trackers/COVID-19 registries?

A new goal will be implementing the real-time matching of COVID-19 hot spots with available testing.

Read more about the NIH’s RADx program and in a special report in New England Journal of Medicine.

Tags

#pctGR, @Collaboratory1

September 23, 2020: NIH Collaboratory COVID-19 Grand Rounds Continues With the RADx Initiative

Photograph of Rick Bright and Rachael FleurenceIn this week’s COVID-19 Grand Rounds session, Dr. Rick Bright and Dr. Rachael Fleurence of the National Institutes of Health will present “Accelerating the Nation’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity: An Update From the NIH’s RADx Program.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, September 25, at 1:00 pm eastern. Join the online meeting.

The NIH Collaboratory Coordinating Center is using its popular Grand Rounds platform to share late-breaking research and promote resources in support of clinical researchers affected by the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Previous COVID-19 Grand Rounds:

For more news and resources related to the COVID-19 public health emergency, see the COVID-19 Resources page.

Grand Rounds September 25: Accelerating the Nation’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity: An Update from the NIH’s RADx Program

Speakers:

Rick Bright, PhD
Senior Advisor to the NIH Director

Rachael Fleurence, PhD
Special Assistant to the NIH Director for COVID-19 Diagnostics

Topic: Accelerating the Nation’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity: An Update from the NIH’s RADx Program
Date: Friday, September 25, 2020, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

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