6 ms·

their machine is fascinating but something I learned about with all the talk about tests is this one that scans for 21 illnesses in one test, they had been usin

by ck2 7y ago

their machine is fascinating but something I learned about with all the talk about tests is this one that scans for 21 illnesses in one test, they had been using it to eliminate most everything else and imply covid19 https://www.biofiredx.com/products/the-filmarray-panels/filmarrayrp/ https://www.biofiredx.com/products/the-filmarray-panels/film... while covid19 test is critical, and would have had more time to come to market if the president had just accepted WHO kits instead of refusing them for US profit, just a reminder if you have flu-like symptoms and fever regardless of virus strain you should not being going out in public anywhere anyway (but pointless to say, people coughing up lungs in stores, at schools and around my apartment complex)

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago
> while covid19 test is critical, and would have had more time to come to market if the president had just accepted WHO kits instead of refusing them for US profit No. Refusing them because of US government red tape and bureaucracy.
- dmix 7y ago
  Roche is also a Swiss company, it’s not even American. ~~The same company also own a majority stake in Labcorp which runs one of the largest amounts of clinical labs in the US.~~ Edit: actually their ownership of LabCorp is no longer clear, I believe from reading Wikipedia that they sold ownership a while ago
  - polotics 7y ago
    Well Genentech in SanFrancisco is large, and part of Roche too.
  - CptFribble 7y ago
    The name came from a Roche-owned lab subsidiary that later merged with another big company from California - Roche retained a 49.9% stake in the new company. Roche sold their stake in 2002.
EdgarVerona 7y ago
Ah, that's a clever workaround.
champagneben 7y ago
> if the president had just accepted WHO kits instead of refusing them for US profit I haven't followed this very closely, so my impression was that that was the CDC's decision/regulation - is that not the case?
- toomim 7y ago
  The president is in charge of the CDC.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    The President appoints certain people within the CDC and can make budget recommendations (although the budget is ultimately set by Congress). Regardless of which political party is in power I would say on-the-ground decisions are made by the non-partisan staff at the CDC within the bounds of all existing regulations. The red tape and disaster declarations are the key levers that the Administration has control over, and it appears to me that they are taking unprecedented steps here to clear the way for testing which was impossible based on existing FDA regulations preventing private and even state run public labs from deploying their own testing. What sounds like a good idea in general (“FDA approval is required before you can offer any diagnostic health test”) doesn’t work very well during a crisis which requires extremely widespread deployment of a relatively simple but novel test.
    - whatshisface 7y ago
      We are in one of those classic scenarios where it's not clear if you should congratulate them on taking the right action or put their head on a pike for doing it too slowly.
      - zaroth 7y ago
        Personally while it was a bit painful watching Trump (try to) speak in his typical style yesterday, I thought it was extremely compelling to see the lineup of CEOs from Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Quest, Labcorp, Roche, etc. each of them announcing their support and dedication to serving their communities and fighting COVID. “While any other day we are competitors, today we all have a common competitor, and that is COVID” was a beautiful line. It’s emblematic of the US approach (I won’t say a Republican approach) to instead of showing a lineup of government officials to show a lineup of corporate officers saying that they are making this their mission. My own political leanings gives me more faith seeing these CEOs commit yesterday to fighting this than anything the CDC or the FDA could announce. So I personally give the Trump Admin a lot of credit for orchestrating that, and I’m excited to see them deliver on their promises in the next couple weeks. I think they moved quickly to close the border with China, and then we lost precious weeks when the CDC failed. Certainly I would not expect any Administration to revamp FDA guidelines on testing before it became clear they were an obstacle. Overall we’ve moved incredibly fast in getting to a National Emergency declaration (e.g. compared to H1N1). Honestly it may have been his “9/11 moment” and I thought he nailed it. Not with eloquent speech to be sure. But in the actions being taken.
nkrumm 7y ago
The commercially available BioFire panel tests for regular coronavirus, NOT SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19). They may have something in the works. that said, these machines are not very high throughput; more of a point of care test for small/medium hospitals.

by ck2 7y ago

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago

> while covid19 test is critical, and would have had more time to come to market if the president had just accepted WHO kits instead of refusing them for US profit No. Refusing them because of US government red tape and bureaucracy.

dmix 7y ago
Roche is also a Swiss company, it’s not even American. ~~The same company also own a majority stake in Labcorp which runs one of the largest amounts of clinical labs in the US.~~ Edit: actually their ownership of LabCorp is no longer clear, I believe from reading Wikipedia that they sold ownership a while ago
- polotics 7y ago
  Well Genentech in SanFrancisco is large, and part of Roche too.
- CptFribble 7y ago
  The name came from a Roche-owned lab subsidiary that later merged with another big company from California - Roche retained a 49.9% stake in the new company. Roche sold their stake in 2002.

EdgarVerona 7y ago

Ah, that's a clever workaround.

champagneben 7y ago

> if the president had just accepted WHO kits instead of refusing them for US profit I haven't followed this very closely, so my impression was that that was the CDC's decision/regulation - is that not the case?

toomim 7y ago
The president is in charge of the CDC.
- zaroth 7y ago
  The President appoints certain people within the CDC and can make budget recommendations (although the budget is ultimately set by Congress). Regardless of which political party is in power I would say on-the-ground decisions are made by the non-partisan staff at the CDC within the bounds of all existing regulations. The red tape and disaster declarations are the key levers that the Administration has control over, and it appears to me that they are taking unprecedented steps here to clear the way for testing which was impossible based on existing FDA regulations preventing private and even state run public labs from deploying their own testing. What sounds like a good idea in general (“FDA approval is required before you can offer any diagnostic health test”) doesn’t work very well during a crisis which requires extremely widespread deployment of a relatively simple but novel test.
  - whatshisface 7y ago
    We are in one of those classic scenarios where it's not clear if you should congratulate them on taking the right action or put their head on a pike for doing it too slowly.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Personally while it was a bit painful watching Trump (try to) speak in his typical style yesterday, I thought it was extremely compelling to see the lineup of CEOs from Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Quest, Labcorp, Roche, etc. each of them announcing their support and dedication to serving their communities and fighting COVID. “While any other day we are competitors, today we all have a common competitor, and that is COVID” was a beautiful line. It’s emblematic of the US approach (I won’t say a Republican approach) to instead of showing a lineup of government officials to show a lineup of corporate officers saying that they are making this their mission. My own political leanings gives me more faith seeing these CEOs commit yesterday to fighting this than anything the CDC or the FDA could announce. So I personally give the Trump Admin a lot of credit for orchestrating that, and I’m excited to see them deliver on their promises in the next couple weeks. I think they moved quickly to close the border with China, and then we lost precious weeks when the CDC failed. Certainly I would not expect any Administration to revamp FDA guidelines on testing before it became clear they were an obstacle. Overall we’ve moved incredibly fast in getting to a National Emergency declaration (e.g. compared to H1N1). Honestly it may have been his “9/11 moment” and I thought he nailed it. Not with eloquent speech to be sure. But in the actions being taken.

nkrumm 7y ago

The commercially available BioFire panel tests for regular coronavirus, NOT SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19). They may have something in the works. that said, these machines are not very high throughput; more of a point of care test for small/medium hospitals.