The American multinational technology company Amazon has started to sell its own COVID-19 test kit directly to customers, alongside a consumer diagnostics website where people can view their results.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test is on sale for $39.99 and has one-day shipping through Prime in some areas of the US. Results from the test will appear on an Amazon diagnostics website that was originally designed for use by the technology giant’s employees.
To use the test, a patient swabs their own nose at home and places it in a box with a prepaid shipping return label. The swabs are then sent to a centralized lab. Amazon got the FDA’s sign-off on its COVID-19 test kit in March. At the time, it planned to use the test for its onsite employee testing program.
Over the past year, at-home medical testing gained more attention, as companies raced to deliver COVID-19 tests that people could take easily without a trip to the doctor’s office. Experts think it’ll supercharge efforts to bring other types of at-home tests, like for flu, to the market more quickly.
Amazon also offers a COVID-19 testing kit made by the genomics company DxTerity and a rapid 10-minute testing kit made by Quidel. The eCommerce giant sells it for $99 and $24.95, respectively.
The in-house COVID-19 test kit is part of Amazon’s expansion into healthcare. The company started offering its telehealth and at-home healthcare program to other employers in March. It also offers six-month prescriptions for common medications starting at $6 through the Amazon Pharmacy program.
