President Joe Biden kept to his word to announce plans to “establish clear federal leadership” to tackle the coronavirus pandemic on his first full day in office. The White House issued a 200-page document on Wednesday, detailing “full-scale, wartime” plans to harness the nation’s manufacturing and distribution capabilities to boost vaccine production, end shortages of […]
Lab Instruments & Supplies
FDA adds to pandemic-related shortage list
The FDA today announced new shortages of laboratory testing supplies needed for the COVID-19 pandemic and renewed its shortage listing for several types of personal protective equipment (PPE). Newly categorized as being in short supply are micro-pipettes and what the agency described as general-purpose lab equipment. Read the full list on our sister site, Medical […]
FDA allows dry heat treatment for single-user mask reuse
The FDA has announced that it will allow the use of dry heat to lower the bioburden on masks used by healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients. While not authorizing equipment made by a particular company, guidance released last week said healthcare providers may use dry heat to reprocess NIOSH-approved filtering facepiece respirators, such as N95s, […]
BD adds informatics option to its COVID testing platforms
Healthcare providers who use the Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) BD Veritor Plus and BD Max COVID-19 testing platforms have a new informatics option. BD announced today that it has launched new reporting capabilities for COVID-19 data, enabling its BD Synapsys informatics to generate scheduled reports. BD Veritor Plus is a portable instrument designed to deliver SARS-CoV-2 antigen […]
Sotera Health files for $1.1 billion IPO
Sotera Health has filed with the SEC to confirm its intent to raise nearly $1.1 billion in an initial public offering. Broadview Heights, Ohio-based Sotera Health said in the filing out yesterday that it expects to sell 46.6 million shares of its common stock at an assumed IPO price of $21.50 per share, totaling $949.3 […]
Supply chain tool IDs COVID-19 supply shortages
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has developed an online platform to identify COVID-19 and non-COVID testing supply shortages. In partnership with the Associaton for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), ASM developed the platform to identify and monitor the testing supplies to be made aware of shortages in real-time, according to a news release. The tool […]
BD’s automated flow cytometry system wins FDA clearance
Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) today announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its FACSLyric flow cytometer with the integrated BD FACSDuet sample preparation system. The system enables clinical laboratories to fully automate the sample-to-answer process and improve their efficiency by reducing errors and limiting the manual user interactions required to run assays on the […]
Federal watchdog tells HHS, FEMA and DoD: You can do better on COVID-19
The General Accounting Office (GAO) took three major federal departments to task today on their coronavirus responses and gave some pointed advice for the future. In a wide-ranging report, the GAO told the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) how to better manage coronavirus-related […]
Feds unveil COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan
The Trump administration today released a plan to distribute an eventual COVID-19 vaccine free of charge, initially to targeted groups and more broadly as supply increases. The government is planning a phased distribution using a contract awarded to McKesson in August. The first recipients could include: Healthcare personnel likely to be exposed to or treat […]
Report: BD, Quidel struggle to supply antigen tests for COVID-19
Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) and Quidel are struggling to fulfill orders for rapid COVID-19 antigen tests as the virus continues to spread, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported today that the two companies, which are the only ones that have FDA emergency use authorizations to sell the rapid diagnostics, cannot keep up with […]
Advamed: Diagnostic COVID-19 tests shipments hit 1m
U.S. shipments of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tests reached 1 million per day for the week ending July 24, based on the latest data from AdvaMed’s national testing registry. The medtech trade group launched the registry July 21 to aid state and federal pandemic responses. “This incredible milestone is just the latest example of how the medical technology industry […]
