cat

Cue (bourgeois COVID rapid tests) enshittified btw and now it's test cartridges can't even make it to the 9 month mark they're supposedly gauranteed for

https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/cue-health-inc-675673-05092024

#warning #covid tests #cue

@catball shared with:

#rebug

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in reply to @NireBryce's post:

cat @catball5/14/2024, 4:36 AM

god, lmao, ridiculous. they charge like a hundred bucks a pop for those things. i guess you can just make whatever garbage once you have a contract to make it for the DoD

Nire Bryce @NireBryce5/14/2024, 5:16 AM

i think it was down to like 30 bucks a test but yeah.

but also like, i think thats part of it right? COVID restrictions slacken and all your 'we will make it less expensive as time goes on as initial costs are subsidized by early adopters' evaporates but you IPO'd in 2021 and now you're just fucked, so you cut costs and pull a boeing

cat @catball5/14/2024, 5:35 AM

ough yeah that's a good point. I wish we could just have like. reliable medical supplies and medical care. im dreaming big here in capitalism world :eggbug-sob:

Ada @songdragon6/11/2024, 6:28 PM

I was paying $50 per test, I think

Ada @songdragon5/14/2024, 6:26 AM

As a bourgeoisie who shelled out for these, I’m pissed

Nire Bryce @NireBryce5/14/2024, 6:31 AM

I mean more seller than buyer fwiw, since the other tests are like, a test strip wrapped in several layers of literal trash

Maya @Mayabotics5/14/2024, 7:09 AM

Wow, making those changes without notifying the FDA was them just begging to have the book thrown at them.

I could see how it happened too. Management was probably leaning on engineering to fix an edge case that was causing a greater than expected number of QC batch rejections, while also leaning heavily on QC/QA to pass more batches because they probably cut the unit price below what would be profitable with their current reject rate.

And management probably wanted it all done yesterday too, so nobody finished the necessary FDA paperwork before they started shipping the changed devices to customers.

Medical devices companies are scummy. I have a list somewhere of the phrases that adorned banners and posters at one of the places I contracted at, and they were all things like "Don't put it in writing or an email until you talk to a manager."

Engineers at that place considered it inevitable that they would someday have to testify in court against their employer.