Rutgers: FDA approves first COVID-19 saliva test

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first saliva test to detect coronavirus, Rutgers University announced Monday.

The federal agency has granted emergency use authorization to Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics and its partners and will “allow for broader population screening” than the current method of using nose and throat swabs, according to a press release.

“The impact of this approval is significant,” said Andrew Brooks, chief operating officer and director of technology development at RUCDR and Rutgers university professor. “It means we no longer have to put health care professionals at risk for infection by performing nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal collections. We can preserve precious personal protective equipment for use in patient care instead of testing. We can significantly increase the number of people tested each and every day as self-collection of saliva is more quick and scalable than swab collections. All of this combined will have a tremendous impact on testing in New Jersey and across the United States.”

The FDA’s approval of the new saliva testing follows the authorization of RUCDR’s genetic testing service for the coronavirus, which can test thousands of samples each day. With the saliva test, that daily number is expected to increase to tens of thousands of samples.

The saliva tests are available to the RWJBarnabas Health network, New Jersey’s most comprehensive health care system and includes Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, University Hospital in Newark and other facilities. On Wednesday, the test will be made available to Middlesex County residents at a drive-thru testing site located at 33 Kilmer Road, Edison, New Jersey.

New Jersey has recorded more than 64,000 infections of COVID-19 and 2,400 deaths as of Tuesday, according to a New York Times analysis.