FDA of­fers Roche an emer­gency OK for coro­n­avirus test­ing tech — eas­ing a crit­i­cal log­jam

As crit­i­cism of the slow-mo­tion re­sponse to pro­vide am­ple num­bers of tests to iden­ti­fy the spread of coro­n­avirus in the US and Eu­rope mounts, the FDA has rushed through an OK of a new test from Roche that has the ca­pac­i­ty to sig­nif­i­cant­ly amp up the process.

Us­ing its emer­gency pow­ers, Bloomberg re­ports, the agency has cleared tests us­ing Roche’s cobas 6800/8800, with the 8800 able to test more than 4,000 pa­tients a day.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER