The Chinese biotechnology sector has outpaced companies in the United States to develop effective tests for COVID-19. Regulators in Europe have moved quickly to approve and import clinical tests from China. It is time for the Trump administration to follow suit.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently relies on companies to submit their products for assessment. Yet this policy is not enough to address the nation’s emergency situation. To date the FDA has only approved 25 different coronavirus tests — almost all from U.S. based companies — for use by medical professionals.

In terms of developing effective new coronavirus detection methods, China's biotechnology industry has surpassed its US counterparts. European regulatory agencies have quickly approved and imported clinical testing reagents from China. It's time for the government to follow suit. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved only 25 new coronavirus detection reagents for medical personnel, almost all of which came from US companies. This kind of policy is not enough to solve the emergency that the United States is facing.

The Swiss Global Innovation Diagnostics Foundation has found that many international laboratories have or are studying nearly 400 reagents at different stages. Many of these were conducted on the frontline of the anti-epidemic disease in Wuhan, China, and have been proven effective. It is time to confront this time now that we are not pursuing a pedantic and narrow "American first" policy.

Many reagents in the international market will be useful to the American people. For example, a biological company in Nanjing, China, is exporting a rapid test kit-like pregnancy test reagent to Europe at a wholesale price of US $ 10, which can show whether it has new coronavirus antibodies with only a drop of blood. The existing detection methods in the United States have caused many virus carriers to display false results. I have some mild symptoms, but it seems that thousands of Americans are not tested. It shows that its detection accuracy is quite high. I hope to accept this test, but the US government becomes a roadblock.

Spain recently announced the return of some kits from an unqualified company in China. But not all reagents in China are the same. The FDA should vigorously develop new reagents and provide those products that are widely effective for the American public. It ’s important to accept virus testing-it ’s possible for people like us to get out of the house, buy groceries, help take care of infected relatives and friends, and volunteer in the community ... with enough testing, most of us He soon returned to work and helped the society recover from the epidemic.

Source from Toutiao