Proteome Systems has been awarded a Aus$2 million Start grant by the Australian government to progress the development of its new, improved diagnostic for tuberculosis (TB)
The TB test under development by Proteome Systems is rapid and simple to perform compared to the alternatives in current use.
It identifies TB proteins, which are detectable in a patient during active infection.
Proteome Systems has recognised the pressing need for a point of care test for use not only in the developed world, but also in the remote environments where TB infection is often most prevalent.
The new test is expected to be in prototype form within 18 months.
Existing tests for TB can take between 24 hours and several weeks to deliver a diagnosis, and require laboratory conditions and skilled staff.
Proteome Systems's test, on the other hand, will take between several minutes to a few hours depending on the final formulation, to deliver an accurate result.
Tuberculosis is the most prevalent infectious disease in the world today.
It is present in one-third of the world's population and kills more than two million people annually.
The rise in HIV cases has been associated with a marked increase in TB infection, which is estimated to kill 40% of HIV patients.
Early results from Proteome Systems have indicated that the TB specific proteins measured in the test under development are immunogenic across different racial groups and in the presence or absence of HIV infection.
The most promising TB proteins are currently being adapted for a prototype test to be developed by the end of 2005, which is aimed at rapidly detecting antibodies to TB in a point of care format.
Jenny Harry, head of discovery and diagnostics at Proteome Systems, said: "We are delighted that our TB diagnostic programme has progressed substantially over the last six months to give us a family of 19 disease-specific proteins found in blood or sputum of people infected with TB.
This places us in a strong position to develop a new generation of much needed fast and effective tests for TB.
At this stage we are not aware of any competitive products to our proposed antigen-based TB test."
