NEW YORK (360Dx) – Chembio Diagnostics today announced a collaboration with FIND to develop a point-of-care test aimed at identifying multiple life-threatening acute febrile illnesses common in the Asia-Pacific region.
Over the next 12 months, the collaborators will develop a simple, rapid, and cost-effective test based on Chembio's Dual Path Platform immunoassay technology platform to detect multiple diseases simultaneously. According to Chembio, such a test would support the clinical management of patients and safeguard public health. Current POC tests cannot simultaneously detect multiple acute febrile illnesses, and making a diagnosis based on clinical criteria is challenging as many illnesses have similar symptoms, such as fever, headache, chills, or muscle or joint pain, which can lead to inappropriate treatment., it said.
Chembio and FIND will develop the company's DPP Fever Panel Assay to include a quality control and nine tests aimed at parasitic, viral, and bacterial pathogens commonly responsible in the Asia-Pacific region for fever symptoms. They include malaria, (four Plasmodium species, using pLDH and HRP2) dengue virus, Zika virus, chikungunya virus, leptospirosis, Rickettsia typhi, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Orientia tsutsugamushi.
Chembio CEO John Sperzei said in a statement that the collaboration is "aligned with our growth strategy and supports" the firm's recent acquisition of Malaysian POC diagnostics firm of RVR Diagnostics.
FIND CEO Catharina Boehme added that an "affordable, rapid, multiple pathogen test would guide the appropriate use of medicines through the accurate diagnosis of the most common causes of fever in the Asia-Pacific region. We urgently need tests like this to ensure effective treatment and care for patients, as well as for the responsible stewardship of antibiotics and other medicines."
Financial and other details of the deal were not disclosed.