Coralville-based Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) has stepped into the void as federal health officials face criticism they’ve been slow to develop and roll out widespread coronavirus testing nationwide. 

The company, which began shipping primer and probe kits to the Centers for Disease Control last month after the Food and Drug Administration amended its rules on who can produce them, has already delivered hundreds of thousands of kits and is ramping up to deliver even more. 

“IDT is proud to play an important role in the fight against 2019-nCoV,” said spokesman Lee Betancourt of APCO Worldwide, which is handling public affairs for IDT. “We are the first company in the nation to have our primer and probe kits approved by [the CDC]. Our primer and probe kits are a key component of the CDC testing protocol for the diagnosis and detection of COVID-19, for which the CDC obtained Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).” 

Mr. Betancourt said IDT had shipped material sufficient to enable a more than 1 million tests under CDC EUA testing protocol as of March 9. The company was on track to manufacture enough kits to enable 2.5 million more tests last week and 5 million tests this week and every week thereafter.