Massachusetts Ends $400,000-a-Month Biobot Deal as State Shifts Wastewater Testing In House
Updated
Updated · The Boston Globe · Jul 4
Massachusetts Ends $400,000-a-Month Biobot Deal as State Shifts Wastewater Testing In House
1 articles · Updated · The Boston Globe · Jul 4
Summary
July 31 will end Massachusetts’ contract with Biobot Analytics, a deal worth $400,000 a month, after the state decided to move wastewater surveillance into its own public health lab.
State officials said the in-house program should cost about one-quarter as much and launch in the fall, focusing on COVID-19, flu, RSV and mpox rather than Biobot’s broader pathogen screening.
The new system will monitor 12 large treatment plants, down from 60 pandemic-era sites, with Massachusetts arguing the smaller network still gives a representative view of disease trends.
Biobot CEO Mariana Matus called the loss a huge hit and a mistake, saying state-run programs can lag private-sector advances even as the company keeps customers in 40 states and expands public dashboards.
The shift reflects a broader post-pandemic transition: after the CDC dropped Biobot in 2023, states including Maine, Rhode Island, Ohio, Wisconsin and Missouri also built or expanded in-house wastewater testing.