Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass., has made a bold play in the molecular diagnostics market, including infectious disease testing, with its proposed $11.5 billion acquisition of Qiagen NV, of Venlo, Netherlands. Word of the deal comes after reports late last year that named Thermo Fisher as a potential suitor for Qiagen. However, in late December, Qiagen said it had wrapped up a review of potential strategic alternatives and decided its standalone business plan represented the best opportunity for value creation.
With trauma patients and those suffering from bleeding disorders, being able to quickly assess a person’s bleeding risk can be lifesaving, but most current tests to measure clotting ability are laboratory-based and don’t provide immediate results. To that end, the U.S. FDA has granted Cleveland-based Xatek Inc. breakthrough device designation for its Clotchip portable blood clotting sensor.
New York and Rehovot, Israel-based in vitro diagnostics startup Todos Medical Ltd. is developing blood tests for the early detection of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Now the company is looking to apply the technology in diagnosing infections, including the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
LONDON – The EU launched a “Corona” response team, bringing together oversight of all the separate strands put in place to control the virus, as the infection spread to 18 of 27 member states, with 2,100 confirmed cases and 31 deaths.
The U.S. FDA has posted an immediately-in-effect policy document regarding clinical laboratory development of diagnostics for the pathogen responsible for COVID-19 disease. The agency said the policy allows a lab to use any diagnostic before the FDA has completed an exhaustive review of the test.
TORONTO – Montreal’s McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) have entered a research agreement with Pasadena, Calif.-based Fuzionaire Diagnostics Inc. to detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases through molecular imaging.
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in diagnostics, including: Chest CT bests assays in diagnosing Covid-19; Sweat sensor keeps tabs on stress; Oligodendrocyte-neural connections not just about myelin; Sharper look yields new potential kinase target in ovarian cancer.
San Diego-based Cortechs Labs Inc. has developed an automated PET image analysis tool that identifies changes in specific brain structures associated with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.
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