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COVID-19 Molecular Testing
Molecular diagnostics is a collection of techniques used to analyze biological markers in the genome and proteome—the individual’s genetic code and how their cells express their genes as proteins—by applying molecular biology to medical testing. The technique is used to diagnose and monitor disease, detect risk, and decide which therapies will work best for individual patients.
As the primary clinical manifestation of COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, PCR tests are generally used to test samples obtained from the upper or lower respiratory tract. Appropriate upper respiratory sample types include a nasopharyngeal swab or a throat swab.
Currently there are two types of diagnostic tests— molecular tests, such as RT-PCR tests, that detect the virus’s genetic material, and antigen tests that detect specific proteins from the virus.
Officials Differ on Value of COVID-19 Pooled Testing
CEO SUMMARY: Some experts on testing strategies support pooled testing because this method may support reopening by schools and businesses and thus bring the economy back. But other experts have raised questions about this strategy. Rules from the federal Centers for Medicare …
Why Local Labs Deserve More COVID-19 Supplies
CEO SUMMARY: As government officials and IVD firms divert the lion’s share of COVID-19 tests to a handful of billion-dollar labs, in thousands of hospitals across the nation COVID-19 patients languish days longer before discharge because their hospital lab must send COVID-19 tests t…
Government Officials Intensify Broad Chaos In Clinical Lab Supply Chain
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical labs throughout the United States are ready to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, there is widespread recognition that many barriers to increasing labs’ COVID-19 testing capacity are caused by the inappropriate actions of government…
Labs Still Confront New Supply Shortages Daily
CEO SUMMARY: For three lab directors in the Midwest, a seemingly endless cycle of COVID-19 lab-supply shortages crops up almost daily. These labs might not have enough test kits one day, and be short of reagents, transport vials, or specimen collection swabs the next. To address these…
Where Is the FDA When Labs Need It Most?
LET’S START WITH AN ESSENTIAL FACT: in the management of almost every outbreak of a novel infectious disease, clinical laboratory tests will be essential in diagnosis of the disease, in monitoring the progress of an infected patient, and in determining if, once cured, a patient has immunity to tha…
Questions Arise as FDA Assesses Serology Tests
CEO SUMMARY: On June 4, the FDA released results of an evaluation of some of the 20 tests offered for sale in this country to identify antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. A quality control expert in clinical labs called the antibody test analysis deeply flawed in part because of the study’s …
Health Insurers Push Back On COVID-19 Test Claims
CEO SUMMARY: Under new federal laws, health insurers are required to pay for testing for the novel coronavirus without cost-sharing, prior authorization, or medical management limits, but insurers are questioning these COVID-19 lab test bills and denying many of the claims, a healthca…
Lab Buys More Instruments as Way to Add Test Volume
CEO SUMMARY: Severe shortages of supplies for COVID-19 lab testing caused one lab director in the Midwest to buy additional instruments while also validating five different COVID-19 tests to run on analyzers the lab used before the pandemic hit. While this strategy allowed the lab to …
COVID-19 Pandemic Erodes Cash Flow at Clinical Labs
This is an excerpt of a 1,209-word article in the June 1, 2020 issue of THE DARK REPORT (TDR). The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: Every day, national news headlines scream about the shortage of SARS-CoV-2 lab tests needed to man…
COVID-19 Pandemic Erodes Cash Flow at Clinical Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Every day, national news headlines scream about the shortage of SARS-CoV-2 lab tests needed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, national news coverage has begun focusing on concerns about inaccurate or unreliable COVID-19 serology tests. But the story being…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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