Ascend to Perform Antibody Testing for COVID-19

Ascend, the dialysis testing laboratory, has begun performing antibody testing for COVID-19. Ascend is one of the first to offer COVID-19 total antibody testing on the Siemens high throughput platform, which can be combined with a patient's regularly scheduled tests.

Ascend is using the SARS-CoV-2 Total Antibody assay from Siemens Healthineers, performed on high throughput Atellica® Solution immunoassay analyzers. The test detects SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with a demonstrated 100 percent sensitivity and 99.8 percent specificity, exceeding stringent FDA quality guidelines. This total antibody test allows for early identification of patients infected with the virus who have developed an adaptive immune response. Siemens received authorization for the test by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).   

Initially, the laboratory will be able to process up to 10,000 tests per day with the ability to expand to 50,000 shortly. Ascend expects to report antibody test results within 24 hours of specimen receipt.