England’s National Health Service to Offer Widespread Rapid Whole Genome Sequencing for Children and Babies

Research in the UK and US into how rapid WGS can prevent deaths and improve outcomes for kids with rare genetic diseases may lead to more genetic testing based in local clinical laboratories Genetic scientists with the National Health Service (NHS) in England have embarked on an ambitious plan to offer rapid whole genome sequencing (rWGS) for children and babies with serious illnesses, as part of a larger initiative to embrace genomic medicine in the United Kingdom (UK). The NHS estimates that...

Congress Holds Off on Enabling FDA Regulation of Clinical Laboratory-Developed Tests

Supporters of the VALID Act say lobbying blitz by academic medical centers prevented its passage In 2022, a bill before Congress titled the Verifying Accurate Leading-Edge IVCT Development Act (VALID Act) sought to change the current regulatory scheme for clinical laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) and in vitro clinical tests (IVCTs). But even though the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and nine other organizations signed a December 12 stakeholder letter to leaders of key House and Senate...

Recent Separate Business Transactions by Fujifilm and GE Healthcare Suggest Bullish Outlook for Faster Adoption of Digital Pathology

Fujifilm acquired Inspirata’s Dynamyx digital pathology technology and business while GE Healthcare announced a partnership with Tribun Health in Europe Clinical pathology laboratories, especially in the US, have been slow to adopt digital imaging systems. But recent industry deals suggest that the market may soon heat up, at least in the eyes of vendors. These collaborators may hope that, by integrating diagnostic data, the accuracy and productivity of anatomic pathologists will improve while...

Healthcare Experts See Links Between COVID-19 and RSV as Tripledemic Pressures Ease on Hospitals and Clinical Laboratories

Some medical experts suggest an ‘immunity gap’ related to COVID-19 mitigation measures, while others point to alternative theories Surge in fall/winter SARS-CoV-2, influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalizations and ensuing clinical laboratory test referrals—dubbed by some public health experts as a “tripledemic”—appear to have eased in the US, according to stats from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Becker’s Hospital Review reported. However,...

University of Utah Study Points to Genetic Link for High Risk of Stillbirth

Researchers at the university suggested their findings could lead to new genetic tests that could be offered by medical laboratories New research conducted at the University of Utah suggests that clinical laboratories may someday be able to deploy genetic tests to indicate whether a couple has a higher-than-average risk of stillbirth. This is yet another example of how researchers are cracking DNA’s code to understand how certain gene variants may affect the healthcare of offspring. The...
;