Viral load testing and CD4 counts
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
"Less costly" AIDS monitoring tools should be developed for "resource-constrained" countries, the Institute of Medicine recommends in July 7 report, "Scaling Up Treatment for the Global AIDS Pandemic." The report urges "development and field evaluation of simple, rapid, inexpensive laboratory tests for diagnosing HIV infections and for monitoring therapeutic responses" as a "high priority" item. IoM singles out the Clinton Foundation's procurement deal with BD for CD4 tests at $8 each. The foundation also is credited with negotiating price drops for Beckman Coulter's CD4 tests and for Roche Diagnostics, Bayer and bioMerieux viral load tests. "The latter reductions make the price up to 80% lower as compared with the currently available lowest-price viral tests," IoM says...