Manitoba in ‘desperate need’ of COVID testing equipment By: Melissa Martin Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 Last Modified: 9:11 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 Updates

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This article was published 04/11/2020 (1513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some Manitoba laboratories are in danger of running out of a critical component needed to process COVID-19 tests as soon as this weekend, as the province ramps up testing amid a global supply crunch.

On Wednesday, Shared Health reached out to University of Manitoba scientists to make an urgent appeal for filtered plastic pipette tips used in processing COVID-19 tests. The tips, which come in different sizes, are placed on devices used to draw up tiny amounts of liquid sample. Without them, COVID-19 tests cannot be processed.

In an email to University of Manitoba colleagues obtained by the Free Press, U of M assistant professor Dr. Philippe Lagace-Wiens, a medical microbiologist with Shared Health’s Diagnostic Services, wrote that Shared Health is now in “desperate need” of filtered pipette tips used for PCR testing, and asked if U of M labs had some to spare.

“A global shortage in plastic supplies has made the sourcing of these critical reagent extremely difficult,” Lagace-Wiens wrote. “Some of our facilities will run out of supplies this weekend.”

The letter says there’s a “critical shortage” of 200 uL filtered tips, while there’s an “urgent shortage” of 1,000 uL tips. Both are used to process a COVID-19 test. While sterile tips were preferred, Lagace-Wiens wrote, Shared Health was willing to accept non-sterile tips as well. (These could then be sterilized by the laboratory itself.)

A spokesperson for Shared Health confirmed the shortage in a statement to the Free Press Thursday.

“A global shortage in plastic supplies has made the sourcing of these critical reagent extremely difficult. Some of our facilities will run out of supplies this weekend.”
– University of Manitoba assistant professor Dr. Philippe Lagace-Wiens in an email to U of M colleagues

“Like many other Canadian labs, we are facing a shortage of pipette tips… due to a shortage in global supply,” the statement said. “We have secured alternate suppliers and are working with our procurement team to identify additional supply sources to ensure there are no service impacts.”

The email from Lagace-Wiens sent some U of M scientists, many of whom have primarily been working from home during the pandemic, running back to their labs to comb through cabinets looking for the tips. In some cases, they found them, and thousands of the tips are expected to be delivered to Shared Health in the coming days.

“As soon as I saw the message, I went to the lab,” said U of M chemistry Prof. John Sorensen, who located 960 of the smaller tips and 384 of the larger ones. “Perhaps it’s a drop in the bucket, but at least it’s a little something… to help get them through the weekend. It feels great to be able to make some kind of contribution.”

On Thursday, U of M biology Prof. Jeffrey Marcus, who studies butterfly DNA, was also able to locate pipette tips to share with the province, gathering 5,472 of the 200 uL tips and 384 of the larger size from his laboratory at the U of M’s Buller building.

“If this can get somebody a test result a little bit sooner and they don’t infect a couple of other people, that’s doing my part,” Marcus said. “To the extent that I’m able to help by getting stuff out of the cupboard that I’m not using because my lab is largely sleeping at the moment, is the least I can do.”

This is not the first time Shared Health has reached out to U of M scientists for help sourcing supplies. In the spring, Shared Health gave Marcus a list of supplies it needed to procure. Marcus noted that the new request was different in that it didn’t specify preferred brands, which suggests an increased urgency.

“It’s going to be a real problem for them and for everybody if these supply issues aren’t resolved in some way. Not just for COVID testing, but for everybody else that’s trying to run scientific research.”
– U of M chemistry Prof. John Sorensen

Shortages of pipette tips and other laboratory supplies have been a growing problem across the world for months. In July, the New York Times reported that pipette tip shortages were causing testing backlogs across the United States, leading to long wait times and competition between labs to try and keep their testing capacity chugging along.

In October, Global TV reported on how Ontario and Quebec labs were grappling with the same problem. Doctors in that report emphasized that Canada needs to find a way to secure its own domestic supply of pipette tips and other key laboratory supplies, a concern that Sorensen echoed.

“It’s going to be a real problem for them and for everybody if these supply issues aren’t resolved in some way,” Sorensen said. “Not just for COVID testing, but for everybody else that’s trying to run scientific research.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large

Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.

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