"What I would have liked to see was an introductory paragraph or two detailing the background of the earlier assays , reassuring they stood, the transition to a new lab, etc. ,then detailing the origins of and description of the problem assays."

It would have been nice. But they did say that earlier assays are intact and reliable. I think you are asking them to step into territory that could prove actionable by the other company. They will not go looking for trouble at these early stages and are more likely to try to smooth things over and move on. This kind of attention is not desirable. As I stated before, they are unlikely to reveal any more info. than they have to as it leads to revealing data that becomes insider info. Then we start getting into "we had these really high percentages which then showed lower... etc.". The latter begins to outline what folks might want to act upon in the market. Of course it is information that is inconclusive as they don't have the proven assays ready to disseminate. The idea for a reputable company is to give out rock solid data on which to build a solid company.