Dr. Marty Makary claims obscure FDA regulation caused setback to coronavirus antibody test

close

Video

Dr. Marty Makary on whether mass testing is key to reopening America

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary, Johns Hopkins University professor of public health, joins Tucker Carlson on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.

Fox News medical contributor and Johns Hopkins University professor of public health Dr. Marty Makary claimed Thursday that an obscure Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation delayed work on a potential antibody test for COVID-19 early in the onset of the contagion in the United States.

Makary told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that researchers began creating antibody tests in January after the scientist who initially identified the COVID-19 strain published its genetic code in a medical journal.

"[The published genetic code] allowed anyone to run a basic genetic test with any body fluid from anybody suspected to have the infection from around the world and see if it matches," Makary explained. "And in fact that's what most of the world did."

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK, STATE-BY-STATE

"But our FDA has a system where, using these old regulatory rules, it insisted on sanctioning the test," Makary continued. "And we lost precious time when one of the original scientists  submitted an application and was told that he had to submit it also by paper mail with a CD-ROM with the files burned on it."

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Makary claimed that regulation stymied the process until the application was submitted in accordance with the rules.

"Thank God President Trump is cleaning house at the FDA right now," said Makary, who emphasized that large-scale antibody testing is a vital step to getting America back to a semblance of normal life.

"It's so embarrassing," host Tucker Carlson agreed. "The country that conquered polio can't get a test online."