HIV/AIDS

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

HIV is a retrovirus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. HIV primarily infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4+ T cells). The HIV infection leads to a decline in the CD4 cell population causing loss of immunity and allowing the body to become more susceptible to opportunistic infections.
At the end of 2007, the World Health Organization estimated there were 33 million people infected with HIV and that AIDS had killed more than 25 million people, many of which are in developing and resource scarce countries. There exists a tremendous opportunity to provide an effective and economical solution. LabNow will initially focus its efforts in the area of HIV/AIDS staging and monitoring applications. The HIV/AIDS diagnostic market, and more specifically CD4 testing, has a large market potential as it is critical for staging, monitoring and treating HIV/AIDS and the current market underserved with existing technology . The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines recommend CD4 testing every three to six months for HIV/AIDS patients, suggesting 2 to 4 CD4 tests every year for patients undergoing HIV/AIDS treatment.
LabNow has developed a point-of-care CD4 testing system for use in staging and monitoring HIV/AIDS patients. The system consists of a small, easy to use, portable, battery operated analyzer and CD4-specific BioChips, which can perform an Absolute CD4 count, CD4%, and Total Lymphocyte count in about 15 minutes using a drop of whole blood that requires no sample preparation.

To learn more about CD4, visit this informative link.

To learn the basics about Global HIV/AIDS, visit this informative link.