quantiferon-tb gold press release

[cross post from ozestock]

Quantiferon-TB GOLD Press Release
Looks like the company is serious about giving QFTB-G a high profile. I note that they seem to have appointed a media relations company - Buchan. (It's a bit of a shame about their domain name!).



MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
Cellestis launches world’s most accurate TB test
Friday, 9th May 2003, Melbourne, Australia; Leading Australian medical technology company,
Cellestis (ASX:CST) today announced the release of its latest generation tuberculosis (TB) test —
QuantiFERON®-TB GOLD — a highly specific and highly sensitive blood test poised to become the
leading TB diagnostic and flagship product for Cellestis worldwide.
“QuantiFERON®-TB GOLD uses ingredients derived from genomic analysis to make a product that
is virtually totally specific for TB infection, irrespective of the patient’s background. The currently
used Mantoux skin test is renowned for inaccurately giving false positive TB results in people who
have received the ineffective TB vaccine BCG, or have merely been exposed to harmless
environmental bacteria,” explained Dr Tony Radford, Chief Executive Officer of Cellestis and one of
the discoverers of the QuantiFERON® technology.
The most common cause of false-positive Mantoux tests is vaccination with BCG (Bacille
Calmette-Guerin). BCG vaccination is proven to help very young children against the worst effects
of TB, but gives little or no protection in adults. Nevertheless, because of its value in young
children, most of the world’s population has been vaccinated.
Clinical studies of QuantiFERON®-TB GOLD in over 1,000 people in Japan, Denmark and Australia
demonstrated major increases in accuracy over the Mantoux test. The new test accurately
identifies people with latent TB and recent infections — effectively removing the large number of
false-positive Mantoux test results.
“Until now, medical practitioners have had no alternative but to interpret Mantoux test results in
conjunction with their belief of the person’s true risk of TB infection. The problem is that the
treatment for TB infection can be toxic, and a falsely positive person is being treated for no reason.
QuantiFERON®-TB GOLD is immune to BCG effects, allowing doctors to find and treat those who
really have a TB infection and dramatically reducing number of people unnecessarily taking drugs
that may damage their liver,” said Dr Radford.
Marketing of QuantiFERON-TB GOLD has begun in Australia and regulatory submissions will be
made in Japan and other countries in the near future.
Dr Jim Rothel, Chief Scientific Officer of Cellestis, believes that QuantiFERON-TB GOLD will
benefit TB control worldwide.
“TB is a dreadful but treatable disease, and around the world the TB situation is getting worse,
especially with the spread of HIV that precipitates TB disease. Although our products are now
sold mostly in developed countries, we are hopeful that in the future QuantiFERON-TB® GOLD will
really help the control of this disease in the developing world,” said Dr Rothel.

About Cellestis and QuantiFERON
QuantiFERON® technology was developed by the CSIRO Division of Animal Health for the detection
of TB infection in cattle.
CSL Limited acquired an exclusive licence to the patented technology and undertook the
development of a diagnostic test for human TB in the early 1990s. Cellestis Limited was chosen to
commercialise the diagnostic test now known as QuantiFERON®-TB.
QuantiFERON® technology is an effective and quick blood test for gamma interferon, a protein that
indicates an immune response. The technology was approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) in 2001 and earlier this year was named as one of the most significant new
indications to impact on patient care in the world. Only 11 out of the thousands of devices and
diagnoses approved or cleared by the FDA were included on this list.
About Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) kills approximately two million people each year and is spread through the air
like the common cold. The global epidemic is growing and becoming more dangerous as the
breakdown in health services, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of multidrug-resistant
strains of TB are contributing to the worsening impact of this disease.
In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) took an unprecedented step and declared
tuberculosis a global emergency, so great was the concern about the modern TB epidemic.
It is estimated that between 2002 and 2020, approximately 1000 million people will be newly
infected, over 150 million people will get sick, and 36 million will die of TB - if control is not further
strengthened. (World Health Organisation www.who.int/eng)
(end)
For further information, please contact:
Kate Mazoudier, Buchan Health & Life Sciences
(03) 9866 4722 / 0403 497 424
[email protected]
George Dragovic, Cellestis International
+61 3 9571 3500 (ext 206)
mailto:[email protected]
www.cellestis.com