The Executive Board of UNITAID, an international organization that invests in innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria more quickly, affordably and effectively, announced a draft resolution to provide $3.9 million to support adaptations and manufacturing ramp-up for high-performance molecular diagnostics systems based on the EOSCAPE platform.
EOSCAPE technology, developed under contract with the U.S. National Institutes of Health as a suite of tools and methods for use in HIV vaccine trials, includes sophisticated sample preparation modules for extracting viral genomic material from whole blood samples. Testing of the sample prep module has shown significant advantages compared to conventional sample acquisition/sample preparation methods.
With the EOSCAPE program having met all goals around vaccine trial support and units having shipped to U.S. government customers, interest has grown in adapting the EOSCAPE as a versatile rapid molecular diagnostic system for use in diverse clinical laboratory testing environments. Smaller hospitals in high-disease-burden countries are considered to be among the clinical environments where new, high-performance, enclosed-cartridge-format rapid molecular testing systems could confer markedly improved capacity for patient care. These care environments are prioritized under the EOSCAPE funding to be allocated by UNITAID.
