NEW YORK, April 19 (GenomeWeb News) - Tm Bioscience has signed on a "major diagnostics distributor" to sell its ID-Tag respiratory viral panel in Turkey, Tm said today.
Tm calls the deal "the first of a number of regional distribution agreements that we anticipate signing" for the product, which the company said may play in the emerging avian flu space.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1-strain bird flu has killed at least 110 people worldwide since late 2003, including individuals in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraqand Egypt. "Our test will be marketed in one of the areas hardest hit so far, where we anticipate it will be used as a first line surveillance tool for suspected avian flu infections," Tm President and CEO Greg Hines said in a statement.
Tm said it "anticipates" it will launch the ID-Tag RVP test in Turkeyin the "coming weeks." The company also said it "expects to obtain CE marking for this product in 2006."
The ID-Tag RVP test is designed to detect various strains of viruses and subtypes, including H5.
