FDA Approves Saliva-Based COVID-19 Test Funded By NBA, NBPA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization on Saturday allowing public use of a saliva-based test for the coronavirus developed at Yale University and funded by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.
The test is designed for widespread public screening with the cost per sample as low as $4.
Yale administered the saliva test to a group that included NBA players and staff in the lead-up to the league's return to play and compared results to the nasal swab tests the same group took.
The results almost universally matched.
The Yale test funded by the league and players' union is simple enough to be used by labs everywhere provided they go through required accreditation processes, said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale.
The NBA and union contributed more than $500,000 combined to fund the Yale work.
In the NBA's campus in Orlando, the league is still using nasal swabs on players, coaches and staff.
The potential for rapid-return, cheap and easy-to-administer saliva tests may have implications for the structure of the 2020-21 NBA season.
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