The diagnostics industry has performed outstandingly during the pandemic and its products have helped to ensure that people could be tested early and comprehensively and that the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus was contained. The Association of the Diagnostics Industry (VDGH) is now calling on politicians to draw the right conclusions from the pandemic in order to be better prepared for future challenges.
VDGH Managing Director Dr. Martin Walger explains: "During the pandemic, the diagnostics industry has shown that it is indispensable in the fight against infectious diseases. The industry is a reliable partner for policymakers when it comes to the security of supply for citizens in Germany. We must also be able to react quickly and decisively to pandemics in the future."
The VDGH is convinced that important steps include the promotion of key technologies, increased investment in the research and development of diagnostics and the expansion of digital reporting systems. Bureaucratic hurdles in the approval of new products must also be removed so that innovative products can be brought to market quickly.
In order to establish efficient pandemic prevention, the expansion of molecular biological wastewater monitoring should be driven forward. "With the technologies of the life science research industry, an epidemiological early warning system for pandemics can be established," emphasizes Walger: "Viral and bacterial pandemics will come back."
