Bio-Rad in HIV Licensing Deal with Calypte

(Hercules, CA, USA).

Bio-Rad is the exclusive licensee of the Institut Pasteur of Paris (France) under the HIV-2 patents. This license now allows Calypte's rapid HIV tests to diagnose a broader population of HIV-infected individuals. The company specializes in novel tests such as the HIV-1 Incidence enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and is developing new tests for the rapid detection of HIV and other sexually transmitted infectious diseases.

"This license will help us reach our goal of providing comprehensive HIV rapid tests that can test for various strains of the HIV virus on a wide array of specimen types, such as urine, oral fluid, blood, and plasma,” noted Dr. Richard George, president and CEO of Calypte. "This HIV-2 license is also intended to allow us to sell the test globally where the disease is not confined to the more prevalent HIV-1 strain.”

According to a report by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, based on its estimates and that of the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland), new infections are on the rise. Only 400,000 of the six million people in need of antiretroviral therapy have access to medicine. To meet the goal of WHO to test three million people by the end of 2005, 500,000 people will need to be tested each day.



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