STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Don’t be so quick to toss your expired at-home coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid test kits – they might still be good.
There are 22 at-home COVID-19 tests authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and each test has a shelf life and expiration date.
The shelf life of the test is how long the test should work as expected and is measured from the date the test was manufactured, according to the FDA; the expiration date is the end of the shelf life.
The FDA previously advised individuals to throw out their tests once it reached the expiration date to ensure accurate test results, however, the agency is now advising people to double check their test and expiration date before throwing them out.
According to the FDA, if a test expiration date is extended it means the manufacturer provided data showing that the self-life is longer than when the test was first authorized and can be extended.
You can check to see if the expiration date from your at-home COVID-19 test has been extended by checking the table on the FDA’s website, https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests, and clicking the link for the corresponding COVID-19 test you are looking for.
The FDA previously advised individuals to throw out their tests once it reached the expiration date to ensure accurate test results, however, the agency is now advising people to double check their test and expiration date before throwing them out. (Screenshot)
Under the expiration date column it will state “extended” next to the shelf-life time.
The table shows the following manufacturers have at-home tests that have extended expiration dates:
- Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc.: BinaxNOW COVID-19 Card Home Test
- Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc.: Antigen Self-Test
- Access Bio, Inc.: CareStart COVID-19 Antigen Home Test
- ACON Laboratories, Inc.: Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test
- Celltrion USA, Inc.: Celltrion DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Home Test
- Detect, Inc.: Detect COVID-19 Test
- iHealth Labs, Inc.: iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test
- InBios International Inc.: SCoV-2 Ag Detect Rapid Self-Test
- Lucira Health, Inc.: Lucira CHECK-IT COVID-19 test Kit
- Maxim Biomedical, Inc.: MaximBio ClearDetect COVID-19 Antigen Home Test
- OraSure Technologies, Ince.: InteliSwab COVID-19 Rapid Test
- OSANG LLC: OHC COVID-19 Antigen Self Test
- SD Biosensor, Inc.: Pilor COVID-19 At-Home Test
The FDA said it will continue to update the table as more shelf-life extensions are authorized.
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