Being able to quickly and decisively distinguish viral influenza infection from bacterial infection could help reduce the risk of antibiotic overuse. That’s why the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is awarding contracts to 2 companies to research and develop simple and inexpensive screening tests.
One company, Alere Inc. (Waltham, Massachusetts), is working on a low-cost molecular test. The iNAT Influenza A&B test could yield results within 15 minutes and show whether the patient has influenza A or B. The second company, InDevR Inc. (Boulder, Colorado), is developing a biochip test, FluChip-8G, to identify seasonal flu viruses and recognize novel flu viruses within 4 hours. Both tests use swabs from a patient’s nasal passage.
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“Administering fast and inexpensive tests at the point of care has tangible benefits to personal and public health, particularly in helping doctors prescribe the right therapy immediately,” said the ASPR Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) director, Robin Robinson, PhD. “Prescribing medication or other therapies in a more targeted way is good stewardship and will be critical to reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance.”
Better tests available in more settings can also alert health care workers and public health authorities to community outbreaks of respiratory illness and signal new viruses, according to HHS.
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The ASPR’s BARDA will oversee the development programs. BARDA is also supporting development of other diagnostic platforms, including a test to identify drug resistance in influenza, new vaccine technology, antiviral drugs, and low-cost, portable ventilators.
