April 09, 2020
BPG News & Notes
Website News
2020 Startups
We finally brought out a 2020 startup page . Don't get too excited - we classify companies by year they were created, not when they first get funded/release news. So if a company "launches" in 2020, usually that means they were founded in 2018 - 2019 .

Industry
Abbott
With the release of their 5-minute COVID-19 diagnostic test, they were given the White House Rose Garden treatment, complete with product placement . They expected to be delivering 50,000 a day by now. Sadly they have delivered 5,500 total. Not only that, all states, regardless of disease burden, were to receive the same number of tests from this batch. Makes sense.

Halo Labs
They just raised $12M in a B1 round . In Dec 2018 they raised $5.6M in a B round. How's the second one gonna be B1? We're waiting for someone to throw out a "B+" round someday or maybe a "BC" round. 

Farco
Just checked out their product list - they had us at "Hydrogel for Moist Wound Care in the Urethra"
Health & Science
Unique Identifier
There have been a number of toilet-related products that can check your stool/urine in real time for various disease indicators. Not sure there has been anything like this : "Each user of the toilet is identified through their fingerprint and the distinctive features of their anoderm". Let's just say anoderm is to anus as fingerprint is to finger. Maybe it's an elaborate April Fools' joke....

COVID Serological Antibody Assay
Here's a pretty useful explanation from Technology Review of serological testing for antibodies to COVID-19. This concept will hopefully enable recovered people to head back out into society.

Pharma Bro
Ever the opportunist, Martin Shkreli has requested in an online scientific proposal that he be temporarily released from prison to pursue a cure for COVID-19. He thinks he can do this in three months. Shkreli's qualifications for solving the greatest public health emergency of our time are his Bachelors in Business from Baruch College, a seven-year felony securities fraud conviction, and being an asshole in general. He is also well-versed in price gouging and sullying Wu Tang records. May as well hand him the Nobel prize.

We are not lawyers, but we doubt the appeal-for-release-by-posting-something-on-a-random-company-website gambit is not going to set a fire under a judge to suddenly release him. Can't hurt to try, right?
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