OraSure, Biorad shares jump on public funding for HIV screening news in US

Shares of HIV screening test makers OraSure Technologies Inc and Biorad Laboratories went up on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange following the proposal announcing government funding for AIDS test under the Medicare programme.

OraSure Technologies Inc manufactures products like OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Tes for use with oral fluid, fingerstick or venous whole blood and plasma and delivers results with laboratory accuracy in 20 minutes.

OraSure HIV-1 Oral Specimen Collection Device collects oral fluid and OraSure HIV-1 Western Blot Kit – a confirmatory assay for the detection of antibodies to individual proteins of HIV-1 in oral fluid specimens obtained with the OraSure HIV-1 Oral Specimen Collection Device.

Meanwhile, Biorad Laboratories is leadider in the diagnostic devices sector and has line of products and reagents for HIV screening including Retrovirus HIV – Rapid Test and Multispot HIV-1/HIV-2 Rapid Test.

Multispot HIV-1/HIV-2 is an indirect EIA using recombinant and peptide antigens for detection and differentiation of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1 and HIV-2) in serum or plasma.

Rapid enzyme immunoassay to be used as a diagnostic aid for detection and differentiation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1 and HIV-2) antibodies in serum or plasma.

Other companies that make such screening products include Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) and Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Inc.

Even though HIV tests have been available in the United States since 1985, it was not until earlier this year that CMS was allowed by law to consider covering more preventive medical services.

Now, HIV screening test to detect the lethal AIDS causing virus can be availed with funding by the government in US.

Screening for the HIV can be done with health insurance programme paying for the test for Americans enrolled in the Medicare program  in US.

Nearly, 1.1 million Americans are estimated to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, that causes AIDS, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An additional 56,000 are newly infected joins the infected each year.

Among the residents with AIDS, about 19 percent of the citizens were 50 years old or older when they were diagnosed, stated U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently.

Evidence show that such screening tests could help detect the infection sooner, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees the program for the elderly and disabled.

Medicare has more than 45 million patients enrolled in it.

The HIV screening tests should be available for those who are most at risk for the infection as well as pregnant women, CMS said. The agency would not deny them to anyone who wanted to be checked.

Any Medicare patient who requests the test should be able to get it even if they are not considered at-risk “since this group is likely to include individuals not willing to disclose high-risk behaviors,” CMS said.

Risk factors for getting infected with HIV include unprotected sex with multiple partners or using injectable drugs, among other behaviors, the agency said.

HIV Screening Tests
HIV antibody tests are the most appropriate test for routine diagnosis of HIV among adults.  Antibody tests are inexpensive and very accurate. The ELISA antibody test (enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent) also known as EIA (enzyme immunoassay) was the first HIV test to be widely used.

When a person is infected with HIV, their body responds by producing special proteins that fight infection, called antibodies. An HIV antibody test looks for these antibodies in blood, saliva or urine. If antibodies to HIV are detected, it means a person has been infected with HIV.

Most people develop detectable HIV antibodies within 6 to 12 weeks of infection. In very rare cases, it can take up to 6 months. It is exceedingly unlikely that someone would take longer than 6 months to develop antibodies.
Babies born to HIV infected mothers retain their mother’s antibodies for up to 18 months, which means they may test positive on an HIV antibody test, even if they are actually HIV negative. Normally babies who are born to HIV positive mothers receive a PCR test after birth.