San Diego-based JAJ International has reported promising results in creating a fast-acting diagnostic test for confirming the presence of the Ebola virus in patients. Such a test would be considered crucial in containing the spread of Ebola, which has devastated parts of western Africa in recent months—killing some 6,400 people—and has even led to occasional cases being reported in the United States. There is no vaccine against the disease, although researchers in the United States and elsewhere are developing one at a rapid clip. In November, the World Health Organization called for the development of a rapid, low-cost test in order to better combat the epidemic. According to test trials of JAJ’s 10-Minute Ebola Rapid Test, the assay had a sensitivity of 82.4 percent and a specificity of 80 percent during field testing in Sierra Leone. The test has a 10-minute turnaround time and requires just a drop of blood. The current reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing can take a day or more and require a tube of blood to make an accurate diagnosis. It costs about $100 to perform. JAJ has not indicated what its test would cost or sell for. “We understand the difficult physical constraints facing […]
San Diego-based JAJ International has reported promising results in creating a fast-acting diagnostic test for confirming the presence of the Ebola virus in patients.
Such a test would be considered crucial in containing the spread of Ebola, which has devastated parts of western Africa in recent months—killing some 6,400 people—and has even led to occasional cases being reported in the United States. There is no vaccine against the disease, although researchers in the United States and elsewhere are developing one at a rapid clip. In November, the World Health Organization called for the development of a rapid, low-cost test in order to better combat the epidemic.
According to test trials of JAJ’s 10-Minute Ebola Rapid Test, the assay had a sensitivity of 82.4 percent and a specificity of 80 percent during field testing in Sierra Leone. The test has a 10-minute turnaround time and requires just a drop of blood. The current reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing can take a day or more and require a tube of blood to make an accurate diagnosis. It costs about $100 to perform. JAJ has not indicated what its test would cost or sell for.
“We understand the difficult physical constraints facing medical professionals in remote clinics,” said James Lu, a JAJ vice president.
The company said it would consider a 96 percent sensitivity and specifity as a goal prior to making the test available for general use in Africa. It said it would continue to conduct trials in both Sierra Leone and Ghana.
Takeaway: JAJ may be close to developing a rapid field test for the Ebola virus.
