Press Release: Agreement with Guava Technologies to Provide Access to Lower Priced HIV/AIDS Monitoring Test in 56 Developing Countries
While traveling in Africa, President Bill Clinton announced that the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) has signed an agreement with Guava Technologies, a California-based company, that can reduce the cost of CD4 testing by up to 50%. CD4 cells are white blood cells that are critical to a healthy human immune system. The HIV virus destroys these cells leaving people more susceptible to infection. CD4 tests are used to measure the number of functioning CD4 cells to help determine when antiretrovirals (ARVs) should be administered, when a patient’s regimen should change and when ARV therapy should be stopped. Under the agreement, Guava Technologies will offer its CD4 System at a discounted price to the members of CHAI’s Procurement Consortium, a coalition of 56 developing countries around the world including 27 countries across the African continent. The agreement follows Guava’s announcement in May 2006 that it has received approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its EZCD4 absolute count system.
While traveling in Africa on behalf of his Foundation, President Clinton said, “Laboratory tests are a vital component of HIV/AIDS care and treatment. The success of treatment programs is dependent on the ability to diagnose and qualify HIV-positive patients for therapy and to monitor treatment efficacy and safety. We are pleased to work with Guava Technologies and commend them for helping to make HIV diagnostic equipment available at lower cost to members of our Procurement Consortium.”
Speaking about today’s agreement, Lawrence Bruder, Guava Technologies' Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Guava is honored and proud to work with the Clinton Foundation, which has rapidly become one of the primary NGOs focused on HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment in much of the developing world. We believe there is a strong fit between our solutions and the goals of the Clinton Foundation, which is to offer affordable and highly reliable monitoring systems to some of the most remote regions of the globe struggling with the HIV pandemic.”
The deals will be available to participating governments immediately.
ABOUT GUAVA TECHNOLOGIES
Guava Technologies, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, is the leading provider of on-demand, easy-to-use single cell analysis systems. Guava Personal Cell Analysis (PCA(TM)) systems, including the Guava PCA, Guava PCA-96 and Guava EasyCyte(TM) systems, are integrated, fully optimized, microcapillary cytometry systems with embedded absolute cell counting capability. Used worldwide by the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as clinical testing institutions (outside the United States and Europe), Guava's products have broad applications in scientific research and throughout the drug discovery and lead optimization process, as well as for cell counting and optimization of commercial biopharmaceutical production. Guava offers a variety of assays and dedicated software modules for the Guava PCA systems, enhancing the system's overall ease-of-use.
The Guava(R) EZCD4 Assay is a two-color, direct immunofluorescence reagent kit intended for use with a Guava PCA System. The kit consists of a monoclonal anti-human CD3 antibody that uniquely identifies T-cells and a monoclonal anti-human CD4 antibody that allows the identification of human helper/inducer CD4+ T-cells (HLA Class II reactive).
Guava Technologies' Microcapillary Cytometry Technology enables the EZCD4 System to be highly compact, portable and low maintenance. Testing requires only 10 microliters of whole blood per patient. The Guava EZCD4 System also requires far less reagent per sample, dramatically lowering the overall costs of performing the assay. Moreover, the microcapillary technology does not require the use of sheath fluid, large amounts of which are typically needed for conventional flow cytometers. The elimination of sheath fluid results in less bio-hazardous waste and further reduces the running costs of the system. Daily maintenance is minimal, requiring a short clean and shutdown procedure performed at the end of each day.
More information about the company and its products is available at www.guavatechnologies.com.
Guava and Guava Technologies, Inc. are registered trademarks of Guava Technologies, Inc. EasyCyte is a trademark of Guava Technologies Inc.
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