- Increases access to early infant HIV testing and monitoring of HIV patients living in remote settings
- Improved accessibility means patient plasma samples no longer need refrigeration during transport to the lab
- Only such card that meets the World Health Organization sensitivity requirement for determining HIV treatment
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today the addition of two new sample types for utilization on the cobas® 4800 System: Dried Blood Spot (DBS) for qualitative early infant diagnosis (EID) and the cobas® Plasma Separation Card for quantitative viral load testing. These solutions further improve access to HIV diagnostic tests.
The inclusion of these additional sample types across all of our molecular diagnostic platforms will expand access to testing in the countries hardest hit by HIV. This is another example of our ongoing commitment to providing life-saving diagnostics in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Uwe Oberlaender, CEO Roche Molecular Diagnostics
Children born with HIV are particularly vulnerable. Without reliable early infant diagnosis and treatment, 50% of them will die before their second birthday.1 The use of dried blood spots (DBS) can facilitate PCR testing, and more importantly make sample collection easy, even from the smallest infant. A quick heel prick is all that’s required to produce an adequate sample.
The cobas Plasma Separation Card is a stable and easy-to-use sample collection device for HIV plasma viral load testing. By providing a small amount of a patient’s blood from a fingertip, this specially designed card simplifies blood collection and sample transportation - even in areas of extreme heat and humidity - while meeting WHO requirements for determining HIV treatment failure.
The cobas Plasma Separation Card is now available in countries accepting CE-Mark certification, for use with the COBAS® AmpliPrep/COBAS® TaqMan® HIV-1 and cobas 4800/6800/8800 HIV-1 Tests.