Stony Brook Medicine has launched an FDA-approved, randomized investigational new drug (IND) trial to determine whether plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 can aid in the recovery of patients currently fighting the disease. Chembio Diagnostics Inc.'s COVID-19 rapid serological point-of-care test will be used to identify potential plasma donors.

LONDON – These are hardly times for a fanfare, but this month saw the unveiling of a new name in bioprocessing, following the formal closing of the $21.4 billion sale of GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences to Danaher Corp. The business, now renamed Cytiva, has turnover of $3.3 billion, nearly 7,000 employees and operations in 40 countries. More than 75% of FDA-approved biologic drugs use its products in their manufacture.

HONG KONG – Whether bats are the source of COVID-19 is a debatable point; however, using sound to navigate like them could prove key for diagnostics and disease monitoring. Bat-Call Ltd. is using its auscultation technology in the battle against the pandemic. It said its patented artificial intelligence (AI) infra-sound analysis and deep learning classification technologies can support the early detection and monitoring of COVID-19 patients.

LONDON – DNA Electronics Ltd. (DNAe) won a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its semiconductor-based DNA sequencing technology Lidia-seq and for the first assay based on the platform, which will detect bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes at point of care.

There will be lessons learned aplenty when the COVID-19 pandemic finally breaks, including how serological and molecular testing can be used to maximum effect to corral a future pandemic. Carmen Wiley, president of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, told BioWorld that the existing instrument types are up to the job, but that surge capacity is needed, and that it is not clear how the cost of that capacity will be handled.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Genmark Diagnostics Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., has offered a preliminary look at its first-quarter results. And it is forecasting hopeful news, increasing its full-year guidance to a range of $112 million to $122 million. That's up from a previous prediction of $100 million to $110 million.

Evercore ISI assembled a dozen internal specialists for a webinar to talk about COVID-19 from a variety of perspectives, with opinions aplenty on transmission route, up-and-coming treatment prospects, and problems in how testing procedures are understood – or not.

PERTH, Australia – Sydney-based molecular diagnostics company Genetic Signatures Ltd. received the CE mark for its 3base Easyscreen SARS-CoV-2 detection kit, clearing the way for marketing across the EU.

Many adaptations to the coronavirus pandemic will remain standard features of health care long after the pandemic wanes, according to Brian Chapman, managing partner at ZS Associates, an Evanston, Ill.-based pharmaceutical and medical technology consultancy. In the long term, telehealth will be a clear winner as payers look to lower ongoing costs, more procedures and care will move out of hospitals, rapid diagnostics will gain importance, and government and payer coverage of infectious disease testing of all kinds will expand, he predicted.