FDA Warns About Potential Supply Chain Issues for Coronavirus Tests

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn stated last week in testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee that there could be supply chain issues with reagents needed for novel coronavirus diagnostic kits. He noted that the supply issues specifically apply to RNA used in testing for coronavirus disease COVID-19.

With COVID-19 diagnostic kits developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), oral swabs or nasal secretions are first obtained. The kits use RNA, which is similar to DNA but contains only a single strand instead of two strands like DNA, to make a copy of the DNA of the novel coronavirus. This same process is used in diagnostic tests for viruses other than the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

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Source Fool.com