A number of startups announced they would begin selling at-home
COVID-19 testing kits this week. These startups included: Carbon
Health, a tech-enabled healthcare network that combines virtual and
in-person care, Everlywell, a company that offers food sensitivity
and various other home health tests, and Nurx, an app that delivers
prescriptions and STI testing kits.
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quickly
responded, demonstrating that it is actively and aggressively
monitoring the market for products with fraudulent COVID-19 claims,
as we previously reported
here.
In its March 20 statement, FDA directly warned
consumers—and indirectly warned the startups—that it
"has not authorized any test that is available to purchase for
testing yourself at home for COVID-19." In other words, it
"is beginning to see unauthorized fraudulent test kits that
are being marketed to test for COVID-19 in the home." FDA
suggested that the public health value of expanded
