As federal health officials have struggled to procure sufficient kits to test patients for the novel coronavirus, an Iowa biotech company is playing an important role.

Coralville-based Integrated DNA Technologies began producing test kits after the Food and Drug Administration amended rules last week to allow private labs to create products that detect the virus.

On Friday, the company told the Des Moines Register it had delivered materials that enabled testing of 700,000 individuals for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. A company spokeswoman said it is ready to send additional materials for more testing.

"IDT has additional inventory available and stands ready to ship sufficient quantities of IDT products to enable testing of additional individuals," said Anna Blyth of APCO Worldwide, a public affairs firm representing Integrated DNA.

The FDA said only two other private labs were in the process of creating coronavirus test kits.

Blyth did not respond to questions about what specific product the company offers, or how much additional inventory it has.

University of Iowa biochemistry Professor Joseph Walder founded Integrated DNA Technologies in 1987. The company specializes in the creation of synthetic DNA and RNA for academic research, pharmaceutical development and biotechnology.

In addition to Coralville, Integrated DNA Technologies has offices in San Diego, Belgium and Singapore. Danaher Corp., a conglomerate based in Washington, D.C., purchased the company in April 2018 for $2 billion.

The company's emergence in the coronavirus discussion comes amid varying promises from federal officials about how quickly the United States can scale up its testing capacity.

On Monday, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said labs would have "close to a million" test kits available by the end of the week.

Vice President Mike Pence then said on Wednesday that the country would have enough tests for 1.5 million people by the end of the week. He backtracked a day later, telling reporters he actually meant the country would hit the 1.5 million target by the end of the coming week.

Integrated DNA Technologies' statement on Friday puts the company in line with Pence's latest goal.

U.S. health officials initially planned to rely on a test created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but some expressed concern about its reliability.

Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told NBC News that the CDC test has three components. The first two test for coronavirus. The third tests for other viruses.

In some labs, the test correctly yielded results for coronavirus, Becker said. But the tests came back inconclusive for other viruses, making federal officials unsure about whether the test was accurate.

The FDA then announced on Feb. 29 that "high-complexity labs" like those at academic institutions and some private health care companies could produce their own tests.

"We expect certain laboratories who develop validated tests for coronavirus would begin using them right away prior to FDA review," Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement, according to Genomeweb, a science and business news organization."We believe this action will support laboratories across the country working on this urgent public health situation."

On Monday, according to Genomeweb, the FDA said it authorized Integrated DNA Technologies to provide reagents for diagnostic tests of the virus. Reagents are chemicals or substances that are added to a substance to causes a chemical reaction.

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Register. Contact him at 515-284-8215 and tjett@registermedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.

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