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Two founders of Bethlehem, Pa.-based
OraSure Technologies, maker of the OraQuick HIV test, will work together to
create a TB test. In 1988, Sam Niedbala and Mike Gausling partnered with two
other friends to form what would become OraSure.
Niedbala's new company, TB
Biosciences, recently announced it received $1.5 million from a group of
investors led by Originate Ventures, the venture capital fund co-founded by
Gausling. TB Biosciences is working on a means of diagnosing the disease using
antibodies found in the blood of patients with active TB. Niedbala believes
that developing an improved TB test is part of the larger fight against HIV
because so many HIV-positive individuals actually died of TB.
According to TB Biosciences,
preliminary trials indicated a 90-percent accuracy rate for the company’s
technology, which the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine has
developed throughout the past two decades. "This would be a major
breakthrough in tuberculosis testing and could go a long way to saving many
lives each year," said Frank Rimalovski, executive director of the NYU
Innovation Venture Fund.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
