Which pharmaceutical companies are developing a rapid test for Hep B?
April 21, 2018 1:37 PM Subscribe
I work with a non-profit that is working towards the elimination Hepatitis B globally. We want contact and work in conjunction with any pharmaceutical company that is developing a rapid test for Hepatitis B. The current Hep B test takes 2 days, but it could be done in 5 minutes and I'm sure some pharmaceutical company is working on it. Who are they? How can I get in touch with them? Thanks!
You can try to look into the molecular testing world.
Multiple Big Pharmaceutical companies like Roche have multiple commercial platforms for molecular Hep B testing.
Serological testing can be done with ELISA plates and, depending on good the antibodies are, can be done in minutes.
The reason why the tests take so long is not on the technology side.
posted by porpoise at 2:11 PM on April 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Multiple Big Pharmaceutical companies like Roche have multiple commercial platforms for molecular Hep B testing.
Serological testing can be done with ELISA plates and, depending on good the antibodies are, can be done in minutes.
The reason why the tests take so long is not on the technology side.
posted by porpoise at 2:11 PM on April 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah it doesn’t take our lab two days! Maybe half a day. We’re a big teaching hospital with a busy virology lab, and they do a hepBsAg run every afternoon. It isn’t a point-of-care test like HIV tests can be though, which I assume is what you are looking for..
posted by tinkletown at 3:48 PM on April 21, 2018
posted by tinkletown at 3:48 PM on April 21, 2018
Response by poster: Yeah I'm looking for a point of care test, I googled around and found this one, but I thought it didn't exist yet. Is this real?
posted by maxexam at 3:56 PM on April 21, 2018
posted by maxexam at 3:56 PM on April 21, 2018
The test from biomérieux is ce-marked, which means it may be available in various non-us countries. In the US, such a test usually needs fda approval and I see no claim that the test has that approval. Fda approval is typically more expensive and takes longer than ce mark.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:15 PM on April 21, 2018
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:15 PM on April 21, 2018
contact and work in conjunction with
This is extraordinarily vague and speaks of lack of sophistication/ follow through from your organisation.
What do you want to accomplish?
- Fund "open source"/ low-tech/ supplemented "low-tech" solutions?
- Get the commercial providers of tests to... donate some?
- Make commercial tests better (more sensitive, more specific)?
There are literally dozens of platforms for every diagnosable viral infection on the market.
Word of advice - you sound like you could benefit from understanding what the latent period of a virus is and the concept of seropositivity where its possible to be infected but not yet (or ever) have detectable responses to it.
posted by porpoise at 5:50 PM on April 22, 2018
This is extraordinarily vague and speaks of lack of sophistication/ follow through from your organisation.
What do you want to accomplish?
- Fund "open source"/ low-tech/ supplemented "low-tech" solutions?
- Get the commercial providers of tests to... donate some?
- Make commercial tests better (more sensitive, more specific)?
There are literally dozens of platforms for every diagnosable viral infection on the market.
Word of advice - you sound like you could benefit from understanding what the latent period of a virus is and the concept of seropositivity where its possible to be infected but not yet (or ever) have detectable responses to it.
posted by porpoise at 5:50 PM on April 22, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Acheman at 1:45 PM on April 21, 2018