Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. released updated software and new instructions for its Taqpath COVID-19 Combo Kit, a widely used COVID-19 test kit that is also the basis for several other coronavirus diagnostics, following issuance of a letter to clinical laboratory staff and health care providers by the U.S. FDA about the risk of false results with the test. Separately, the Waltham, Mass.-based company has released the first in a series of hematology-oncology assays designed to run on its Ion Torrent Genexus system.
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s complete response letter (CRL) for Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec; Valrox) gene therapy for severe hemophilia A shocked the company, its investors and analysts mere days before its Aug. 21 PDUFA date. Now an approval and launch for what would have been the first approved hemophilia gene therapy is likely pushed back roughly two years.