July 1, 2020—Roche announced that the FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for the Elecsys IL-6 test, which measures levels of the biomarker interleukin 6 in human serum or plasma. The assay can be used to assist in identifying severe inflammatory response in patients with confirmed COVID-19 illness to aid in determining the risk of intubation with mechanical ventilation, in conjunction with clinical findings and the results of other laboratory testing.
The test can run on Roche’s Cobas e analyzers, which can provide test results in approximately 18 minutes, with a test throughput of up to 300 tests per hour, depending on the analyzer.