I agree with the previous comments that there is little detail here so difficult to know what they are doing. However, it is possible to make some assumptions. They talk about identifying active TB disease and the image looks like some variant of a strip test. My guess is that it would be an antibody test so is looking for active disease. There are numerous tests that use antibody methodology but this one seems to have updated the visualisation and reporting method. This will not change the biology which ensures that antibody tests have a low sensitivity, specificty or both. Also note that this is not CST's market. Their big market is for the identification of LTBI, particularly in healthcare workers. To do this you have to identify T cell activation - this requires an incubation period of many hours so any rapid, point of care method is a waste of time. The only impact this methodology (or something similar) could have is if the blood is taken and incubated in the In Tube tubes. You could then attempt to measure the IFN gamma produced using such a device following stimulation by the normal CST antigens. I have heared the good Doctors hint that such a methodology is being looked at. It would be interesting to see if such a thing will be possible. Alex
CST Price at posting:
$3.00 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
