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NIH awards $1.2 million grant for rapid HCV test
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The National Institutes of Health awarded a phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research grant worth $1.2 million to Daktari Diagnostics to develop a point-of-care hepatitis C virus infection diagnostic, according to a press release from the diagnostic company.
The grant will ensure the HCV viral load test is fast and portable, enabling it to impact care in remote areas, according to the release.
“We are thrilled with the progress that the science team has made,” Marta Fernandez-Suarez, PhD, scientific director of Daktari, said in the release. “We are gearing up to enter the next phase of the product development program to move the assay into its microfluidic cartridge format.”
A rapid molecular screening test would support a “test and treat” HCV program, as the overwhelming majority of people do not know that they have the disease, according to the release. Daktari's point-of-care platform and connectivity technology is designed to enable molecular HCV screening and treatment monitoring everywhere it is needed.
The phase 2 grant follows a previous phase 1 grant awarded to Daktari in June 2014 as part of the NIH Small Business Innovation Research Fast Track Program.