L.A. Reaches Legal Settlement With Company For "False Advertising" Of COVID-19 Test
In late March, the California company RootMD started advertising "at-home Covid-19 exposure and immunity tests" for consumers worried about the coronavirus. For $249, the company said it would mail out a test kit â including a "lancet" that buyers could use to prick their finger and collect a blood sample. Then, the company promised, consumers could mail that sample back to "certified MD immunologists" to test for antibodies to the coronavirus, and get results within 48 hours.
At the time, the Food and Drug Administration had not authorized any at-home tests for COVID-19. But the company's marketing materials appeared to suggest the FDA had vetted the RootMD kits. On Instagram and Twitter, the company's messages included the hashtags "#FDA #Approved."
On its website, the that "the test has not yet completed the several month investigation periods by the FDA to be labeled as approved." Still, the company claimed, the FDA had issued guidance "allowing its use under emergency provisions."
