Pharma companies, diagnostics manufacturers, labs and other parts of the healthcare industry have done a commendable job in pivoting in response to the current public health industry. Sadly, it seems … [Read more...]
Can You Require Lab Workers to Get the COVID-19 Vaccination?
Although it’s clearly a positive development for the world at large, the almost miraculous emergence of a vaccine for COVID-19 in less than a year poses legal challenges for employers in general and … [Read more...]
New Collaboration Seeks to Develop Handheld Breathalyzer Test for COVID-19
A handheld, easy-to-use breathalyzer device capable of accurately detecting COVID-19 at the point of care would represent a major breakthrough in the effort to contain the spread of the virus. That … [Read more...]
Abbott and Quidel Stake Out Early Claims for Leadership of SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Testing Market
What COVID-19 antigen assays lack in accuracy with regard to RT-PCR testing is offset by their speed, low cost and scalability. In the long term, these advantages make point-of-care COVID-19 antigen … [Read more...]
What will 2021 bring for lab safety programs?
By Dan Scungio bio As we say goodbye and good riddance to the year 2020, we hesitatingly welcome 2021. What will the new year bring? Can it be worse than the last year? Are we prepared to deal with … [Read more...]
New Saliva-Based CRISPR Smartphone Assays May Fill Need for Mass and Rapid COVID-19 Testing
One of the few positive things to come out of this deadly global pandemic is how it has accelerated the pace of diagnostic innovation to hyperdrive levels. The latest example of this phenomenon is the … [Read more...]
HHS to FDA: Resume EUA Review of COVID-19 LDTs, And Do It Fast
The controversy over FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of laboratory developed tests (LDTs) for COVID-19 is on high boil once more. A month after the agency announced it would no longer review … [Read more...]
Labs and Private Payors Clash Over Reimbursement of COVID-19 Testing
Things are getting ugly. The unfortunate convergence of resurgent COVID-19 cases, lingering testing supply bottlenecks and Thanksgiving are once more stretching labs to the breaking point and fraying … [Read more...]
OIG Warns Medicare Beneficiaries Not to Fall for COVID-19 Scams
Pharma companies, diagnostics manufacturers, labs and other parts of the healthcare industry have done a commendable job in pivoting in response to the current public health crisis. Sadly, it seems … [Read more...]
“COVID captains” promote safety precautions
By Dan Scungio bio The year 2020 is roaring to a close, and COVID-19 is unfortunately still around. We have made changes to our lives at home, in public, and at work. Lab workers and other … [Read more...]