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Alere Inc granted WHO pre-qualification for child HIV test

Last updated: 23:36 16 Jun 2016 AEST, First published: 18:36 16 Jun 2016 AEST

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Alere's drug detects HIV at point of care in under 60 minutes

Alere Inc’s (NYSE:ALR) rapid HIV diagnostic test has been granted World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification, making it available for public sector procurement.

The Alere q HIV-1/2 Detect is a portable platform that identifies HIV-1 and HIV-2 at the point of care (POC) in less than 60 minutes.

The test will be used by health workers to identify infants born with HIV infection and link them to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

"Children with HIV are less likely to receive ART compared to adults and traditional methods of EID (Early Infant Diagnosis) do not address this gap because they don't allow for immediate linkage to care," said Avi Pelossof, Alere Global 's president of Infectious Disease.

"Now, countries with the highest burden of HIV infection will have broader access to the Alere q HIV-1/2 Detect, which delivers lab-accurate results in 52 minutes."

Current diagnosis methods mean health workers have to wait 3 to 6 weeks for results, so many potentially HIV-positive infants are lost to follow-up and remain untreated, said Landon Myer, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town.

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