Some coronavirus tests are a ‘disaster’, warns drugmaker

The boss of Swiss drugmaker Roche today warned that some blood tests being marketed to tell people if they have ever had the new coronavirus are a "disaster",

Severin Schwan sounded the warning after Roche studied the market to prepare to launch the company’s own antibody test in May.

Schwan said, Roche scrutinised some existing products now on offer but rejected them as unreliable in determining if somebody has actually ever had the disease.

"It's a disaster. These tests are not worth anything, or have very little use," Schwan told reporters on a conference call on the Basel-based company's first-quarter results. "Some of these companies, I tell you, this is ethically very questionable to get out with this stuff."

Roche said last week it hopes to launch its Elecsys serology antibody test by early May. It will be available in countries which accept the CE mark, which is the global standard.

The hope is that the treatment could help test employees in high-risk groups such as food supply and healthcare return to work more quickly and with a degree of immunity to the disease.