[Nitrolo]

I'm wondering if they're subsidized, but the price in Germany at the supermarket hovers around 1€ each. I was really surprised to hear that these are not a thing in the US, any idea why?

[jeroenhd]

Here in the NL they're about €2,50 each, so there may be some subsidizing going on in Germany (or we're getting ripped off for €1,50 per test).

Schools and food banks can hand out free self tests so there is definitely some kind of subsidizing going on here, but in a different way.

[emteycz]

Surely someone would import them and sell for €2 and then someone else would sell them for €1.5 and then someone else would sell them for €1.2 if you were just being ripped off. Is that really the only reason you could think of?

[vitorgrs]

lol here in brazil you can only find these in drug stores, and is arround R$100 (which would be arround 15 euro/17usd).

Keep in mind that R$100 means 10% of monthly minimum wage.......

[bzbarsky]

The FDA has approved 13 test kits for at-home use with a self-collected sample, according to https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and...

Germany has approved a much larger number of test kits for use, per https://antigentest.bfarm.de/ords/f?p=110:100:4793921863454:::::. It was >50 as of August 2021 according to https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2021/08/te..., including from American companies that the FDA has not approved.

I suspect that the supply-restriction effects of the approval situation go a long way toward explaining the pricing differences...

[wallacoloo]

these are available in the US. they retail for $20-30 for a pair. they were easy to get from October-ish through mid December and now they’re sold out everywhere because of people testing for holiday gatherings.

[xyzzyz]

Because FDA does not allow companies to sell them.

[_alex_]

They are a thing in the US as well.

[throwaway4good]

Because the ones you get in Europe are made in China.