The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Roche’s Elecsys® IL-6 test.This test measures levels of the biomarker interleukin 6 (IL-6) and can be used to help identify patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease who could be at high risk of intubation with mechanical ventilation.

The test can support physicians, in combination with other examinations and vital signs, to decide early on if a patient with confirmed COVID-19 illness requires mechanical ventilation

Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the Elecsys IL-6 test on Roche’s cobas e® analysers which are widely available around the world. These fully-automated systems can provide test results in approximately 18 minutes, with a test throughput of up to 300 tests/hour, depending on the analyser.

About Elecsys® IL-6 test​: The IL-6 immunoassay is an in vitro diagnostic test for the quantitative determination of IL-6 (interleukin-6) in human serum or plasma. This assay is used in countries accepting CE-mark to aid in the management of critically ill patients, as an early indicator for acute inflammation.

Under the Emergency Use Authorization in the US, this assay can be used to assist in identifying severe inflammatory response in patients with confirmed COVID‑19 illness to aid in determining the risk of intubation with mechanical ventilation, in conjunction with clinical findings and the results of other laboratory testing.

IL-6 is released by immune cells, once they are activated by virus, bacteria or other immune cells. IL-6 acts like a messenger to activate other immune cells to fight the infection. Because IL-6 is released so early during a severe infection, it helps physicians to identify severely ill COVID-19 patients as early as possible.

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