This new test detects the presence of anti-R7V antibodies in HIV-seropositive patients, which helps clinicians identify patients who may be non-progressors
Ivagen has signed a licence with the laboratory of Professor Jean Claude Chermann, the co-discoverer of the virus responsible for Aids, to manufacture and distribute the anti-R7V Elisa.
This new test detects the presence of anti-R7V antibodies in HIV-seropositive patients, which helps clinicians identify patients who may be non-progressors.
"This is an exceptional opportunity for Ivagen.
"Management of HIV has become increasingly difficult with viral resistance and fastidious regimes for the patients, the anti-R7V Elisa will bring an important test to the arsenal already available to the clinician," said Jean-Claude Aziza, president of Ivagen.
Anti-R7V antibodies from HIV-positive patients have the property of neutralising all strains of HIV, no matter the genotype, phenotype, or geographical area of the patient, even if resistant to anti-retroviral drugs.
In this way these antibodies are concluded to be protective.
HIV-positive patients are considered as being non-progressors when they remain asymptomatic for more than 10 years after being detected as seropositive, have stable CD4 counts and viral load that does not evolve.
This test detects these protective antibodies and is a clinically valuable indication when taken into account with CD4 counts and viral load.
The test does not discount the efficacy of anti-retroviral therapy, but the use of anti-viral agents can cause side effects and inconveniences for the patients.
In this way the test is a useful indication to the clinician in making therapeutic decisions and is used at the initiation of seropositivity to detect non-progressors, after which the clinician then prescribes the test quarterly to monitor the evolution of the patients and, in conjunction with other biological and clinical parameters such as CD4 counts and viral load, makes decisions on whether to apply therapy or not.
A retrospective study involving 989 samples collected from HIV-positive patients has demonstrated a correlation of 85.7% between non-progression and the presence of anti-R7V antibodies in HIV-positive patients.
Ivagen will be at the Medica trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany, 16-19 NOvember 2005, and at the Arablab trade show in Dubai, 16-20 February 2006.
Ivagen is a privately owned diagnostic company located in Nimes in the south of France.
It manufactures and commercialises in vitro tests for the human, veterinary, and phytosanitary markets worldwide, both directly and through an extensive network of distributors.
