NEW YORK – Roche announced on Friday that its Cobas SARS-CoV-2 Qualitative test has received CE marking for use with saliva samples.
The RT-PCR test runs on the fully automated Cobas 6800/8800 systems and is intended for use by symptomatic and asymptomatic people, the company said in a statement. Patients have the option to self-collect their saliva sample on site under the guidance of a healthcare professional, Roche added.
The test has already been available to use with nasal, nasopharyngeal, and oropharyngeal swabs collected by a healthcare professional, Roche added.
"Expanding sensitive testing to include a noninvasive, easy-to-collect sample type such as saliva helps to improve access to screening for more people," Cindy Perettie, head of molecular labs at Roche Diagnostics, said in a statement. "This is crucial for public health and keeping our communities safe."