Response Biomedical says its Flu A test 100 times more sensitive than diagnostic tests on market

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 28 - Response Biomedical Corp. announced Monday that it has achieved its analytical sensitivity targets for its Flu A test with the intention that the test be commercialized for both human and animal applications.

The company said that in testing a variety of Flu A strains, the RAMP Flu A test produced results in excess of 100 times more sensitive than commercially available rapid influenza A tests, according to a news release.

This superior level of performance is particularly important as leading public health agencies continue to express caution about the lack of sensitivity and related performance limitations of currently available rapid Flu A tests, company officials said.

Response Biomedical also said it has initiated development of a separate RAMP test to specifically identify only the H5N1 strain, the lethal form of avian flu that is spreading internationally and threatens to cause a global influenza pandemic. Early feasibility testing has produced encouraging results, officials said.

Since announcing its plans Oct. 24 to commercialize a high sensitivity Flu A test, the company said it has received interest from government organizations and the private sector, president and chief executive officer Bill Radvak said in the release.

As a result, Response Biomedical is entering into collaborations with several government health organizations and international members of the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance Network, Radvak said.

These centers will evaluate the sensitivity of Response's rapid RAMP Flu A test across numerous flu strains and measure the sensitivity and specificity of the RAMP H5N1 test for avian flu.

"In 2003, a similar collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory led to the RAMP West Nile Virus test being validated as 100 times more sensitive than the leading commercially available rapid test within months of undertaking development," Radvak said.

He said the company's goal is to replicate the RAMP West Nile Virus test commercial model and become a market leader in rapid clinical infectious disease testing by quickly validating RAMP's significant performance advantages over available tests, leveraging this competitive advantage to attract distribution partners.

Vancouver, BC-based Response Biomedical develops, manufactures and markets rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use with its RAMP System for clinical and environmental applications.

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