$2.1mn Awarded For Chembio Diagnostics to Develop Multiplex Assay for Febrile Illnesses

Microsoft Co-Founder Paul G. Allen has awarded $2.1 million dollar grant for Chembio Diagnostics to develop a POC test to identify multiple life-threatening febrile illnesses.

Chembio will use its patented Dual Path Platform (DPP�) technology to develop a POC multiplex assay to simultaneously detect Malaria, Dengue, Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, and Chikungunya.

Misdiagnosis of febrile illnesses result in high morbidity and mortality across the world. Misdiagnosis may be due to the fact that these diseases have similar symptoms that are difficult to identify.

Through this grant, it is the goal of the Paul G. Allen Ebola Program to develop a simple, cost-effective, point-of-care diagnostic capable of testing for multiple diseases simultaneously, to ensure that patients receive the appropriate treatment, and healthcare workers offer optimal care to communities through the accurate diagnosis of febrile illness.

The assay will be designed with a quality control test band and seven tests bands with specific antibodies to detect different pathogens, including multiple serotypes of the same pathogen: Malaria PAN-PLDH antigen (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale), Malaria Falciparum HRP2 antigen, Ebola Virus PAN (Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo Virus), Marburg Virus, Lassa Virus, Dengue Virus (Dengue 1, Dengue 2, Dengue 3, Dengue 4) and Chikungunya Virus.

Javan Esfandiari, Chief Science and Technology Officer (CSTO) of Chembio commented, "We are honored and excited that the Paul G. Allen Ebola Program has selected Chembio's patented DPP� technology for the development of this highly-sensitive, specific and affordable rapid point-of-care multiplex assay for febrile illness. A small, cost-effective, battery-operated digital reader will be used to read the test results and report them electronically. We believe the DPP� Fever Panel Assay and reader will become important tools in the battle against emerging disease worldwide."

John Sperzel, Chembio's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It is a corporate priority to be first-to-market with a DPP� Fever Panel Assay to test for multiple fever diseases concurrently, with a single fingerstick blood sample. Today's partnership brings this goal within reach, and we are delighted to partner with the Paul G. Allen Ebola Program in this important endeavor."

"Chembio affirms its commitment to the development of new and much-needed POC tests for life threatening fever diseases. Under this latest grant, we intend to develop new assays for Marburg Virus, Lassa Virus, and Chikungunya Virus, which will be combined with our recently developed assays for Malaria, Dengue Fever and Ebola Virus to complete the DPP� Fever Panel Assay development in the next 12 months," he said.

Source: Medindia