Mike
I could not agree with you more. I will pit my extraction 17OHP
assay against yours anytime as I am sure both in house assays
are excellent and are 'fit for purpose'
However, if we are discouraged in the lab from using in house
assays because of things like product liability then surely the
same should hold for our commercial brothers. I am not sure how
a court would view the defence that an assay is usable if only a
small number of results are wrong due to a design fault, especially
if the reason for getting the wrong results is well understood. A
test case might be useful if the kit manufacturers will not respond
to well meaning and informed criticism of their products.
Jonathan Middle is correct in one sense that dialogue with
manufacturers is best but like many others I have often found this
non-productive with either a refusal to admit to the existence of the
problem or to remedy a defect either in reagents, equipment or
software. Of course some companies are better than others but
even the best sometimes are less responsive than one would like.
I am not a great lover of beaurocracy and am sceptical about ISO
standards but I would support the setting up of an organisation
specifically to look at kits and to evaluate users complaints in an
objective an impartial way.
Mike Addison
Dr G.Michael Addison
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital
Pendlebury
Manchester M27 4HA
United Kingdom
Tel 0161-727-2250(AM)or 0161-220-5342(PM)
FAX 0161-727-2249
Email [log in to unmask]
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