Qiagen to Sell Abbott's HIV Load Assay in N. America Under Its Own Brand

By Kirell Lakhman

Qiagen will sell Abbott's real-time PCR-based HIV-1 viral-load test in North America under its own brand sometime in 2012, the companies said today.

Meantime, Abbott will provide a quantitative hepatitis C test optimized and labeled for use on Qiagen's QIAsymphony RGQ instrument, which the firm launched last month to perform HIV, HCV, and hepatitis B tests.

The HCV test at the heart of the Abbott alliance, which will be marketed under Abbott's brand in North America, is expected to be approved by US and Canadian regulators "by the end of 2012."

Terms of the agreement call for Qiagen to supply Abbott with "certain key products" required for a PCR-based human papillomavirus test in North America that will run on Abbott’s m2000 96-well platform.

However, Qiagen said it will continue to "address" the HPV-screening market with its QIAensemble "prevention platform," which is designed to process up to 2,000 samples per shift.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.


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