A team of scientists at Duke Health has identified biomarkers that accurately detect viral infections before a person becomes symptomatic. The findings were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the University of Virginia have used a retrospective database analysis to show that the use of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors for the treatment of HIV or hepatitis B reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 33%.
The U.S. FDA has given the green light to Roche Group for its Cobas HIV-1/HIV-2 Qualitative test for use on Cobas 6800 and 8800 systems. The test is the first FDA-approved, fully automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that detects and differentiates between human deficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-2, as well including claims for pregnant women and children.
The Xpert MTB/XDR test developed by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Cepheid Inc. quickly indicates whether a patient has a dangerous – and rapidly increasing – strain of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (TB). The new test enables clinicians to return results in 90 minutes and see immediately whether the pathogen would respond to standard first- or second-line therapies.
The checkpoint molecule CD47 has high hopes riding on it in oncology as being the innate immune equivalent of PD-1. Multiple companies are developing blockers against CD47 and/or its ligand, SIRPa, for the treatment of various tumors.
Adarza Biosystems Inc.’s Ziva platform can simultaneously detect hundreds of proteins, antibodies, or substrates from a single drop of blood, plasma or serum, providing insight into an individual’s immune response. That could be critical for both surveillance and diagnostic purposes as the nation prepares for a likely second wave of the novel coronavirus in the fall when multiple respiratory pathogens will be circulating.
PERTH, Australia – Sydney-based Speedx Pty. Ltd. has signed a global distribution deal with Roche Holding AG, through which the latter will sell Speedx’s Resistanceplus MG and Resistanceplus GC molecular tests for detecting antimicrobial resistance to Mycoplasma genitalium (Mgen) and gonorrhea, respectively.
The COVID-19 pandemic has gripped the conversation regarding diagnostic and surveillance testing, but stakeholders nonetheless saw fit to populate the docket for the FDA’s proposal to down-classify tests for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to class II. One of the themes of the feedback was that the proposal excludes a few key items, such as quantitative nucleic acid tests and testing for viral load monitoring, leaving the FDA with some difficult decisions to make.
LONDON – Noscendo GmbH closed a series A round to finance the commercialization of its next generation DNA sequencing test for the fast diagnosis of bloodstream infections. At the same time, the company reported the start of operations at a new testing lab.