WHO warning increases opportunity for Biomagnetics urine based TB assay

Jul 21 2011

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., (PINK SHEETS:BMGP - News) a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria detection, and other innovative technologies, today announced that the World Health Organization ("WHO") on Sunday July 17, 2011 warned that the widely used blood tests to detect tuberculosis ("TB") are unreliable and "dangerous" to patients because they produce too many false negatives and positives.

“The tests are not reliable and a waste of money and time, putting proper care at risk.”

WHO further recommended that doctors should not rely on these blood based TB tests. Mario Raviglione, the Director of WHO's Stop TB Department, stated, "The tests are not reliable and a waste of money and time, putting proper care at risk."

Clayton Hardman, CEO of Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp. commented, "This is the first time WHO has issued a "negative" policy in regards to the use of a particular method for diagnosing a disease. We are excited about the opportunity we have with our urine based assay, which has been developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory on behalf of Biomagnetics. TB testing is a large market opportunity for us. Currently around 14 million people worldwide have active TB and a third of the world's population is believed to harbor the bacteria that causes TB."