U.S. approves Richmond firm's rapid HIV test system
What better day than world AIDS day for the U.S. to approve an HIV testing system that can produce results in under a minute?
The test, produced by Richmond's bioLytical, costs only $8 – $12, and allows tests for HIV/AIDS to be carried out in clinics and other primary points of care, as opposed to specialized labs. It’s been available for use in over 50 countries since 2006, but now that it’s available for use in the U.S., bioLytical sees a bright future, from a corporate standpoint.
The Vancouver Sun broke the story:
Rick Galli, chief technical officer for bioLytical, said that getting market approval in the U.S. is "as we affectionately call it, the holy grail for this particular kind of product."
Galli said that U.S. medical officials are moving toward using rapid HIV tests as the standard of care. "They are trying to move the entire testing program out of the laboratory and into point-of-care settings."
Galli said the INSTI device has been endorsed by the Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
"They've been very keen to see this approval because of the potential fit with a lot of programs that the CDC is spearheading."
The Sun story also mentions that health authorities in B.C. plan on using the tests as well, and health workers in the U.S. have used the tests for years, where they are popular because of the quickness with which a patient gets results.
