A Covid-19 home test developed by local technology company Oceanit is now available to consumers nationwide via Amazon.
Oceanit received Emergency Use Authorization for its ASSURE-100 Rapid COVID-19 Home Test from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2022, and the product has since been available to organizations and health care groups. Oceanit launched sales for the test on Amazon in March.
“Demand, and competition, fluctuates with waves of Covid and seasonally, but we have seen good numbers in selling to businesses, organizations, and small clinics/doctor’s offices,” said Oceanit CEO Patrick Sullivan. With the test on Amazon, it will be more widely accessible to individual consumers and small businesses throughout the country, and Sullivan said that early Amazon sales were yielding solid results.
The ASSURE-100 “is a shallow, nasal swab test that delivers accurate results in just 20 minutes,” according to Oceanit. The company said that the test can detect all variants of Covid-19. It is available on Amazon in packs of six or eight tests.
When asked why Oceanit wanted to make the product available on Amazon, Sullivan said that the company had been “fielding random calls for tests and wanted to build an appropriate storefront portal.”
“Covid is endemic and there is still a nationwide need for rapid tests – Covid isn’t going away,” he said. “Although sales are seasonal, rapid tests will remain a critical tool for protecting family, loved ones and employees, especially during holidays and travel.”
According to Oceanit, the company was one of only 33 throughout the world to receive FDA emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 test — and the only one from Hawaii.
Making the product available on Amazon fits into Oceanit’s larger goals as a company. Sullivan said that “delivering technology from ‘Hawaii to the world’ is part of Oceanit’s strategy.”
“Amazon is a virtual storefront, providing access to global markets. In the long term, we expect to introduce a few unique products and technology to the global market each year,” he said.
“We also know that as a state reliant on tourism, Hawaii needs to diversify its economy,” he continued. “If we are going to build a life science industry in Hawaii, we have to execute and deliver. We see Hawaii as a great place to innovate. However, the world is our marketplace. Amazon is a baby step in this direction.”
