What happened
Shares of Co-Diagnostics (CODX 2.63%) were jumping 16.4% higher as of 11:18 a.m. EDT on Thursday after rising as much as 26.9% earlier in the day. The big gain appears to be related in part to a New York University Langone Health study that identified possible inaccuracies with Abbott Labs' (ABT 0.71%) ID NOW diagnostics test for novel coronavirus disease COVID-19. Co-Diagnostics also markets a COVID-19 diagnostic test.
So what
Bad news for Abbott Labs could be good news for Co-Diagnostics if it causes sales of the company's Logix Smart COVID-19 tests to rise. It remains to be seen if that's what happens, though.
Image source: Getty Images.
The NYU study found that Abbott's ID NOW COVID-19 test missed one-third of samples that were identified as positive for COVID-19 by Danaher's Cepheid Xpert Xpress test. However, the study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Abbott quickly responded to the NYU study, stating that the results from the study "are not consistent with other studies." The healthcare giant noted that another recent study found that ID NOW was highly accurate at detecting positive cases of COVID-19.
But the NYU study is receiving a lot of publicity, especially since the White House is using Abbott's test for COVID-19 testing. This could give at least a temporary boost to Co-Diagnostics' sales of its own COVID-19 test.
Now what
We'll probably know fairly soon if the NYU study was flawed or truly identified issues with Abbott's ID NOW test. We'll also know even sooner how much the COVID-19 pandemic is helping Co-Diagnostics. The company reports its first-quarter results after the market closes today.
