Boston-Based Orig3n Gets Lab License Suspended After Invalid COVID Tests

BOSTON (CBS) - Orig3n, a Boston-based coronavirus testing lab once used by the state and a consumer genetics company, has now had its license suspended.

The Massachusetts Department of Health said it started looking at Orig3n's lab in the Seaport in early August because of "an unusually high positivity rate of tests" there. Orig3n had originally started to run COVID-19 tests for Massachusetts in April.

Investigators re-tested samples at a different lab and found at least 383 of Orig3n's tests in Massachusetts were "erroneously positive," forcing the company to halt testing.

An investigation found previous problems at the lab, involving DNA testing that could not distinguish between human, dog and tap water samples.

Orig3n was federally certified and licensed by the state of Massachusetts.

The company now has 60 days to appeal the decision to take away the lab's CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certificate, which allows it to perform testing.