Luminex Confirms Effectiveness Of XTAG® Respiratory Viral Panel For Swine Flu Surveillance

Main Category: Swine Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 01 May 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX), the worldwide leader in multiplexed solutions, today issued a follow-up statement to an announcement on Monday, April 27, 2009, confirming that the xTAG® Respiratory Viral Panel (RVP) assay has been demonstrated to be effective in surveillance of swine flu. Specifically, Luminex has verified through testing on confirmed swine flu-positive samples that the xTAG RVP assay will correctly identify these samples as positive for influenza A and negative for common seasonal flu strains of influenza A H1 and H3. This is the expected outcome for novel influenza A strains which prompts follow-up testing by state or federal public health labs with assays such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) swine flu assay.

Over the past several days, scientists at Luminex have reviewed data provided by public health laboratories in Canada and the United States, and have internally generated data that indicate that the xTAG RVP assay is effective in swine flu surveillance. As a result of xTAG RVP's unique ability to simultaneously identify the influenza A virus matrix gene and specific common seasonal flu subtypes of that virus, H1 and H3, xTAG RVP can be an effective tool in a public health setting. In this environment, a test with this capability could prove to be essential for an effective surveillance program.

"xTAG RVP's ability to determine if a patient is carrying a normal, seasonal respiratory virus or an unknown H1 flu A virus can be a critical first line of defense in separating standard respiratory infections from swine flu cases," said Patrick J. Balthrop, Sr., president and chief executive officer of Luminex. "Luminex is very pleased to have the opportunity to have a positive impact in this surveillance effort. This is a critical situation, and we are hopeful that xTAG RVP will be useful in protecting the public health. Our investment in the research and development of unique, innovative products such as xTAG RVP has been a top priority for our company. We look forward to continuing to work with public health officials and health care professionals, including our customers, to deliver quality results and improve the lives of people worldwide."

xTAG RVP was cleared by the FDA in January 2008, and is the only commercially-available test that can simultaneously detect 12 respiratory viruses and subtypes, including Flu A with subtyping, at the DNA/RNA level. During an outbreak this test can provide the physician with valuable information as most patients will be positive for one of the more common viruses included in the panel. In the event that a rare Flu A virus is detected, as included in the xTAG RVP labeling and package insert reviewed and cleared by FDA, samples that test positive for total Flu A but are not positive for the included seasonal flu subtypes should be referred to a public health lab such as CDC for follow up.

Luminex is continuing to work with many current customers, including public health laboratories and officials to gather additional data and samples to further confirm their findings.

xTAG RVP is available in the U.S. through Luminex Molecular Diagnostics, Fisher HealthCare and Abbott Laboratories. It is available worldwide from Luminex Molecular Diagnostics and Abbott.

For more information on xTAG RVP, please visit www.luminexcorp.com/rvp.

• See our Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
• See our Mexico Swine Flu Blog

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