Biotech Values

[vinmantoo]

US testing capacity for COVID-19 boosted by Roche test and (belated) government actions:

Dew,

Yesterday I read an article about a bottleneck that is hindering our ability to ramp up testing. It looks like the primers needed for RT-qPCR are finally getting sorted out, and that more research labs at hospitals are gearing up to perform the PCR assays. However, the first step after obtain swabs of patients is to extract the viral RNA. People use RNA extract kits and major supplier is Qiagen. There don't seem to be enough to go around so hospital labs are asking colleagues in departments or outside to send them RNA extractions kits they have in their labs, even though they are not officially certified for medical uses. That is irrelevant in my book as they are used for precise research experiments in research, but it points out how difficult ramping up is when you haven't planned to do it.