BC Maker of World’s Only 60-second Rapid HIV Test Expands Reach into U.S. Point of Care Facilities; Looks forward to Global Discussion on ‘Home Testing’ in Vancouver this week.
RICHMOND, BC, April 11, 2013 /CNW/ – As the 22nd annual Canadian Association of HIV Research Conference gets underway in Vancouver, BC, Richmond-based bioLytical Laboratories is showcasing INSTI, the only licensed and approved 60-second rapid HIV test available for Point of Care use.
The test is the most sensitive of all the FDA approved rapid tests, detecting HIV antibodies nine days faster than Western Blot, the former gold standard of laboratory testing, and eight days faster than the U.S. market leader, an oral fluid test, widely considered to be less accurate than blood testing.
Licensed by Health Canada since 2006, INSTI has recently been made available to U.S. Point of Care facilities, and many American cities, counties, hospitals and clinics are quickly updating their testing algorithms to include this state-of-the art diagnostic tool.
St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles is the most recent facility to make the transition from the oral fluid test to the Canadian device due to high rates of false positives with the oral testing method.
Despite the fact that the prognosis for people living with HIV has vastly improved and that testing is becoming routine, there are still many people who aren’t aware they are infected. Evidence indicates that many new infections are caused by individuals who are unaware that they are infected.
Making testing easy and accessible – and most importantly, accurate – is critical to ensuring they can be treated as early as possible thereby improving the quality and duration of their lives as well as effectively eliminating the potential for disease transmission. “These ‘Seek and Treat’ initiatives are one of the many topics sure to be discussed at CAHR this week,” says Dr. Christopher Shackleton, bioLytical Laboratories Executive Director.
“Our priority is making the most accurate testing technology available to everyone, be it at their local doctor, the dentist, anonymously at a free clinic, or – hopefully in the very near future – at home,” says Shackleton. “Because INSTI was the first test to pass rigorous new untrained user requirements for FDA approval and has a proven record of application in a broad range of test settings, home use has not been ruled out for the test, which is robust and easy to use.”
“INSTI has a compelling data set demonstrating its ease of use for untrained users. If Health Canada approves home testing, it makes sense to be able to offer the most accurate test to end users,” says Rick Galli, chief technical officer at bioLytical. “We look forward to hearing the discussion at CAHR of what doctors, counselors and researchers have to say about testing experiences and options.” CAHR runs April 11-14 at the Westin Bayshore in downtown Vancouver.
Image with caption: “The INSTI HIV-1/HIV-2 Rapid Antibody Test is a rapid in vitro qualitative test for the detection of antibodies to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 and Type 2 in human whole blood, fingerstick blood, serum or plasma. The test provides results in as little as 60 seconds.(CNW Group/Laura Ballance Media Group)”. Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130411_C4420_PHOTO_EN_25451.jpg
SOURCE: bioLytical
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