Endorsement boosts Corgenix fever-test kit
Doug Storum
BROOMFIELD - Corgenix Medical Corp. will step up the commercialization of a test kit that diagnoses Lassa fever.

Broomfield-based Corgenix (OTC BB: CONX) said the ReLasv Antigen Rapid Test for Lassa Fever kit has received the CE Mark, which means the product complies with the essential requirements of European health, safety and environmental protection legislation.

The kit has not yet been cleared for use in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The diagnostic test was developed by Corgenix and other members of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium, a collaboration of academic and industry members headed by Tulane University and partially funded with support from the National Institutes of Health.

The kit enables rapid diagnosis of Lassa viral hemorrhagic fever, a highly infectious virus responsible for thousands of deaths each year across West Africa. The Lassa virus is considered a category A (highest risk) pathogen and potential biowarfare agent by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"This 15-minute test has the potential to completely change the way Lassa fever is detected and treated," said Douglass Simpson, president and chief executive of Corgenix "Instead of having to wait days to find out if a patient has Lassa fever, health-care workers are now able to diagnose and treat Lassa infections in the early acute stage, potentially saving many lives."

Lassa fever is a dangerous, often fatal disease common to much of West Africa with children and pregnant women being the highest risk groups; early stages of the disease are difficult to distinguish from other diseases.

Lassa fever is spread by contact with infected rodents and is estimated to infect 300,000 to 500,000 people per year across the region, with at least 5,000 deaths reported annually. The illness is characterized by bleeding and coagulation abnormalities, with mortality rates reported exceeding 25 percent and reaching 50 percent during epidemics.