The Chinese medical lab in Reedley that inspectors closed after finding COVID-19 and more than 20 other deadly viruses stored in refrigerators once operated legally in Fresno and recently planned to return to construction near the airport.
The recent controversy over mysterious operations has left a return to Fresno through Universal Meditech Inc. in the air. and Prestige Biotech Inc. Fresno city officials need more data before approving the profession from the area near Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
The city said in a statement that its plan-making arm won two proposed operating plans, in March 2022 and June, for a new location at 3900 N. Blattella Lane, just north of the airport. Construction has not obtained the latest city inspections, nor has it issued occupancy permits, either mandatory before the verification kit operation can move in, as ArrayTest kit companies may use live viruses to make sure their products actually work.
Urban Planning Director Jennifer Clark, in a letter Wednesday to building owner Ford Tetra Partners, said conflicting data in the two operating states raised considerations and demanded more data. list of appropriate local, state and/or federal driving permits and fabrics,” the city wrote. “Therefore, the amendment to the operation will not be approved. “
The city also provided a timeline for Universal Meditech’s tenure in Fresno, beginning with the city’s approval in August 2018 to occupy a leased area in a commercial construction at 1320 E. Fortune Ave.
The Fresno Business Journal reported in February 2019 that Universal Meditech, then a three-year-old company, operated out of Tulare before moving to Fresno, where it manufactured pregnancy, ovulation and menopause. The company then added coronavirus kits to its pandemic drug portfolio. .
After a chimney at the Fortune Avenue construction site in August 2020, the Fresno Fire Department reported that shelves and fabrics had been burned. The chimney report also noted that the lab’s walls and electrical wiring were installed without the city’s permits.
During construction inspections in November 2022, following a two-year relief in inspections due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials from the city’s building and code enforcement departments joined the site through Fresno County fitness inspectors. At that time, United Meditech CEO XiaoXiao Wang told them about a dispute with the landlord and a court case related to the lease.
“On December 27, 2022, the tenant moved out and the case was closed,” the city data said. About 3 months later, the owner of the Blattella Lane building filed documents identifying United Meditech as the proposed tenant.
While the company was producing COVID-19 checks immediately at its first stop in Fresno, the company is said to have failed to download the required FDA clearance to manufacture or distribute the COVID-19 checks. Universal Meditech has issued at least two recalls for its COVID-19 immediate antigen control kits announced with the names of the Skippack Medical Lab and DiagnosUs logos, according to FDA data, one covering more than 209,000 kits in April 2022 and another in December expired for more than 56,000 COVID-19 control kits.
The recalled kits were manufactured between October 2021 and December 2021 and distributed nationally in January 2022, at which time the company was operating in Fresno.
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