Cue Health Inc. scooped up $100 million in a series C round to support the launch of its rapid molecular testing platform. The funds will be used to finalize the development and validation of the Cue Health Monitoring System and Cue Test Cartridges, as well as to scale up manufacturing operations.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached into quarters that are not historically problematic for makers of diagnostics, including China’s import and export practices for test kits. According to one caller on an FDA diagnostic town hall, export officials in China have a blacklist and a whitelist for test kits, but there is some dispute as to whether kits that are eligible for distribution in the U.S. can get off the blacklist unless that kit is specifically called out via the emergency use authorization (EUA) program.

Before the lessons of COVID-19 fade into yesterday’s news, Congress should start preparing for the next pandemic, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is advising. As the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the senator issued a white paper Tuesday identifying areas that must be addressed.

Threads of hope and caution stitched together a wide-ranging appraisal of COVID-19 vaccines at June 9's BIO Digital plenary, "A Way Forward." The good news, delivered by one of the world's most sober participants in the pandemic response, mercifully came first.