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FIND and BD Combine International Efforts to Improve Rapid Tuberculosis Diagnosis for HIV-positive Patients in Developing Countries
2004-12-17

FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced an international collaboration aimed at improving diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected patients in developing countries.

Today, TB is the leading cause of death in AIDS patients in high-burdened countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. TB is particularly difficult to diagnose in AIDS patients because they often have few or no TB bacteria in their sputum thus, the standard diagnostic procedure using microscopy is insensitive. Classical culture methods for TB are more sensitive, but notoriously slow, typically requiring 21 to 42 days. BD has developed an improved culture method, the BD MGITTM (Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube) system, which provides results within 10 to 14 days. The BD MGIT technology can be used both for detection of the bacteria causing TB as well as for the determination of resistance to the TB drugs routinely used for treatment. The BD MGIT system is now widely used in industrialized countries but not in the developing world.

Ed Ludwig, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, BD, said, BD is committed to providing technologies which can help alleviate the impact of TB and HIV globally. BD is pleased to enter into this agreement with FIND, which is aimed at making these technologies more accessible to the public health sector of high-burdened countries.

Access to quality diagnostic equipment in countries with limited health resources will improve the management of tuberculosis in HIV positive patients, said Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Stop TB Department. This new agreement provides a blueprint for modern TB technology to be made more widely available globally, which will help reduce TB deaths and decrease transmission rates in high risk areas.

The agreement between FIND and BD will operate in two stages.

Demonstration Projects
First, FIND will perform and support projects using certain BD equipment, reagents, training and support to be purchased from BD in an effort to demonstrate the effectiveness of more rapid and accurate TB diagnosis in settings where TB and HIV are common and in areas with high prevalence of multiple drug resistant TB. FIND will conduct these projects in close cooperation with WHO, the relevant working groups of the Stop TB Partnership, and the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic (CREATE) based at the Johns Hopkins Center for TB Research. The goal of these demonstration projects is to promote the use of this technology by national TB control and AIDS programs.

According to Dr. G. Roscigno, CEO of FIND, The collaboration with BD in the MGIT project is a significant and innovative step forward for FIND. FINDs demonstration projects using the BD MGIT technology will pave the way for the introduction of critical technologies in the public health sector of developing countries while contributing to a reduction in mortality particularly in HIV / TB patients.

Implementation

The second stage is focused on sustainable implementation of this advanced diagnostic technology in the public health sector. Under this agreement, BD has committed to provide certain equipment, reagents, training and support to the public health sector in the high-burdened countries on terms which will enable them to be purchased and implemented on a sustainable basis. 

Helene Gayle, President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and Director, HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said, We are particularly pleased that this innovative collaboration between BD and FIND is addressing one of the most urgent needs of the TB and HIV community in the developing world. ( Source: THE IPPPH NEWS DIGEST http://www.ippph.org)

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