EsThe U.S. government has signed a contract with Cue Health worth $481 million to deliver COVID-19 test kits which uses a cartridge based system to generate results within 20 minutes. The contract calls for 100,000 kits per day to be delivered from March 2021 from manufacturing sites in the U.S.
As discussed in Panjiva’s research of Sep. 30 the objective on onshoring medical supplies is core to both the Trump and Biden campaign’s re-election platforms, though previously implemented plans have focused on ventilators, pharmaceuticals and PPE as well as test kits.
While Cue Health’s assembly will be U.S. based it will likely need to source some materials or equipment from overseas. So far U.S. seaborne imports linked to the firm have been minimal, Panjiva’s data shows, with cartridge trays sourced from Shenzhen Ourways Packaging in China and surface mounting systems from Fuji Health in Japan.
Cue Health’s system, when delivered, may eventually displace imports from overseas assuming that demand remains high for tests into 2021. Panjiva’s analysis shows U.S. imports of testing kits and materials jumped 66.7% higher in August versus July and by 22.0% compared to a year earlier after a dip the month before.
A decline in test kits has been offset by increased imports of reagents and swabs, indicating more domestic assembly of the kits themselves. The volatility indicates the challenges faced in securing the necessary products and the impetus for the onshoring process.
Source: Panjiva
There are signs that imports may have picked up a little further in September, with seaborne imports of test kits having increased by 10.7% sequentially compared to August. That’s included a pickup in shipments linked to Roche Holding and Johnson & Johnson – a backer of Cue Health – while shipments linked to Abbott Labs and Wondfo Biotech have been in decline.
Source: Panjiva
