Atomo Africa to roll out rapid HIV test

The device significantly improves the ease of use and reliability of rapid HIV testing in the field, and represents a breakthrough for convenient testing for the disease in Africa.

It has also announced the opening of its first African office in South Africa. Brad Mears, previously the CEO of the SA Business Coalition on HIV/Aids (SABCOHA) for nine years, has been appointed as the MD of the Africa office. He has been instrumental in the development of HIV strategies, the establishment of monitoring systems and the provision of capacity building programs to the business sector in South Africa.

"The company will change the HIV diagnostics landscape in Africa, thereby helping people affected by this devastating disease. The benefits of ease of use and reliability that the test brings to testing will significantly improve patient outcomes and increase the effectiveness of these programmes," says Mears.

Important weapon

Rapid testing is recognised as an increasingly important weapon in the fight to bring HIV/Aids under control in Africa and other high disease burden regions. Whilst the performance of most rapid HIV tests in the laboratory is very good, the use of multiple manual accessories complicates testing under real conditions and typically results in a reduction in the accuracy of HIV testing in the field. Across Africa, these in field errors potentially result in several hundred thousand people being misdiagnosed with HIV every year.

John Kelly, the CEO and founder of Atomo Diagnostics says, "The test was developed to provide a better way to perform rapid testing in the field. It can save lives by replacing the need to use a complicated test kit with inherent problems. This makes the test simpler to perform and removes the need for manual steps, requiring extensive clinical training.

To ensure superior performance, it uses a proven HIV test strip that has been WHO pre-qualified and sold in the market for many years. The company now delivers this test in the field as a next generation solution specifically designed to meets user's needs and reduce errors.

It will be available to customers for regular supply in February 2014. For more information, go to www.atomodiagnostics.com.