Covid-19: Confidentiality agreements allow antibody test manufacturers to withhold evaluation results

Type Journal Article Author Elisabeth Mahase URL https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1816 Rights Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions Volume 369 Publication The British Medical Journal (BMJ) ISSN 1756-1833 Date 04/05/2020 Extra Publisher: British Medical Journal Publishing Group Section: News PMID: 32366513 Journal Abbr BMJ DOI 10.1136/bmj.m1816 Accessed 2020-06-26 07:54:49 Series Title The BMJ News Library Catalog www.bmj.com Language en Abstract Commercial agreements between the UK government and manufacturers of covid-19 antibody tests are allowing the latter to control whether evaluation results of their products are made publicly available. This matter came to light when a pre-print paper1 assessing nine different antibody tests for covid-19 was published with the names of the tests anonymised. The paper reported that none of the devices were adequate, with sensitivity ranging from 55 to 70% and specificity from 95 to 100%. This was against the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s 98% specificity target, which is high because of … Short Title Covid-19