The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent an internal memo about potential problems with a major company's malaria tests after scientists reported issues with test sensitivity and warned it could delay patients' access to critical treatment. Abbott's Bioline rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria are used by health workers around the world, particularly in remote areas where lab techniques such as microscopy and DNA detection aren't available. Investigations at several institutions in Southeast Asia suggest at least some of these RDTs fail to detect infections or show faint test lines for some positive cases. Daniel Ngamije Madandi, director of WHO's Global Malaria Programme (GMP), issued the memo to WHO's six regional offices on 30 April. It lists 11 "affected" lots from two Abbott RDTs--Pf/Pv and Pf/Pan--that were associated with "faint lines and false negative results" in reports from "multiple research groups." The memo follows a public notice by WHO in March that warned of reports of faint lines in malaria RDTs without mentioning particular brands or products.

Covid-19 has sped the adoption of virtual care, or the provision of health services remotely in a synchronous or asynchronous fashion. No longer just a convenient enhancement to in-person clinical care, virtual care is needed by patients, clinicians, care teams, and health systems alike. But the gap between the promise and the reality of virtual care is substantial: The stakeholders often don't get what they need while trying their best to navigate a new paradigm. We aim to close this gap by helping health systems refine and reimagine their virtual care journey while prioritizing the needs of the people who get and give the care. Our guiding principle is a needs-based approach that retains the best practices of in-person visits while sensibly adapting to the unique characteristics of a virtual setting.

Editor's note: This article is the fourth in a series of posts about AI and inventorship, developed as part of Professor Colleen V. Chien's AI and the Law class at Santa Clara University School of Law. The first blog describes the Thaler v. Hirshfeld appeal; the second, the technology behind DABUS; and the third, how patent practitioners view the issue of AI inventorship. Author Jungyeon Kim (SCU Law '22) is a technology specialist and an incoming associate at WilmerHale. He was previously an engineer in the server industry. To be patent eligible, an invention must be useful, novel, and nonobvious.