QuidelOrtho Corporation is an American manufacturer of diagnostic healthcare products that are sold worldwide.[3]
On May 8, 2020 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued to Quidel the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 rapid antigen test, a new category of tests for use in the ongoing pandemic. These diagnostic tests quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs.[4]
History
Quidel was founded by Dr. David H. Katz, M.D., commencing operations in 1981 and launched its first products in 1984. Quidel Corporation was formed in 1991 when Quidel and Monoclonal Antibodies merged.[5]
In 1988, Dr. Katz, a founder and chief scientific officer at Quidel, resigned to devote his energies to the Medical Biology Institute, a nonprofit research group in La Jolla, California that is closely allied with Quidel.[6]