Fabienne made a funny discovery in her medicine cabinet a few days ago. “I found a Covid self-test, I didn’t think I had any left! » she says. The sixty-year-old will soon be able to renew her stock, by expanding the range. Because a first Covid, flu and bronchiolitis self-test will be sold in pharmacies from this Wednesday, November 27, as we reveal. This is the “All in Triplex” test from the French group AAZ, accessible to adults and children.
This device is already used in France in “hundreds of pediatric and adult emergency services”. Since last summer, pharmacists can also carry it out in pharmacies by asking for a few euros to be paid. From now on, it can be sold freely, around 10 euros per unit.
“This is the last step, to be able to reach as many people as possible,” rejoices Fabien Larue, director of AAZ for more than 20 years. The timing is not insignificant: the bronchiolitis epidemic has largely begun, the flu epidemic is starting and a new wave of Covid is likely in the coming weeks.
Reliability in question
Concretely, this nasal test is made up of a sort of sponge attached to the end of a small tube. It must be inserted less deeply than a nasopharyngeal self-test against Covid, which makes it less unpleasant. After 15 seconds of rotating in each nostril, the tip is plunged vertically into a narrow container. Three different colored strips correspond to the three types of viruses. After several minutes, the result is negative if only one band is displayed and positive if there are two.
For the president of the Union of Community Pharmacists, Olivier Variot, this type of combined test is “obviously a plus, to successfully shed light on the origin of the disease”. If a person is positive for SARS-CoV-2, an influenza virus (A or B) or RSV (the virus which causes bronchiolitis in babies but also affects the elderly), “we know that an antibiotic does not will be of no use, unless there is secondary infection,” he says.
But is this test really effective? In response to this key question, the manufacturer touts reliability close to 100%: 100% specificity (i.e. 100% chance of being negative if the person has not been infected), and around 90% sensitivity (i.e. 90% chance of giving a positive result if the person carries the virus).
When looking at this type of combined samples in June 2023, the High Authority for Health (HAS) was more cautious. Thus, concerning “All in Triplex”, two studies carried out at the hospital in Bondy, Mocano and Orléans showed “sensitivity levels significantly lower than those displayed on the instructions”, pointed out the HAS. It all depends on the criteria chosen, answers AAZ. “We are less worried than for several flu/Covid self-tests, because this one has received the new European certification,” says Pierre-Olivier Variot. This green light for marketing was issued on October 23, for a period of five years.
Freely set price
“All wholesalers” have already received 15,000 doses and the manufacturer hopes to sell many more this winter, says its boss. But pharmacists doubt they will be overwhelmed, at least in the very short term. “It will be up to us to explain and provide information, because people rarely know that it is possible to have these three diseases. They especially think about Covid or the flu,” says Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France. Parents of young children may be particularly interested in knowing if they have caught the bronchiolitis virus, to avoid passing it on to their baby.
AAZ recommends a selling price of 10 euros, but each pharmacy is free to set it. Crippling for some people? “We are fixed in almost 100% of cases,” Fabien Larue puts forward as a selling point. Its HIV screening was 25 euros at the start of its marketing ten years ago, before dropping to almost 10 euros. As with Covid self-tests, no coverage by Health Insurance for this “triplex” is planned.
