Subject: Electro-Nucleonics To Sell Test to Screen Blood for AIDS Virus
Date: Published: 3/8/85 51 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones Inc. 

   Electro-Nucleonics
   To Sell Test to Screen
   Blood for AIDS Virus

   NEW YORK -- Electro-Nucleonics Inc. received the
government's second license to produce and sell a test to
screen blood that might contain the virus for Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome.
   The government action is expected to assure the quick
distribution of tests, and also begin a fierce marketing
battle among test makers.
   Last Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration gave the
first license to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill.
Abbott began shipping its test kits to blood banks and
laboratories immediately.  By yesterday, it had shipped out
100,000 kits to 100 blood banks, a company spokesman said.
The kits cost $2 to $3 each.
   Electro-Nucleonics's president, John Fennell, said the
Fairfield, N. J. -based company began shipping 150,000 kits
yesterday.
   Both tests identify the presence of antibodies to the AIDS
virus, which means the body's immune system has been
activated against the virus.  A positive reaction to the tests
indicates an exposure to the virus, but doesn't necessarily
indicate the presence of the disease.  The test, therefore,
isn't recommended for use in diagnosing AIDS, but only to
screen blood that might contain the virus.
   A spokesman for the New York Blood Center said performing
the test will add as much as $5 or $6 to the cost of a unit
of blood, which runs about $62.50 a pint.
   In approving the test, the FDA said that
Electro-Nucleonics's test is 99.6% accurate in detecting the
presence of AIDS virus antibodies in the blood.  The agency
said a similar study showed that Abbott's test was about 95%
accurate.  An FDA spokesman said the statistics aren't meant
for comparing "whether one is better or not."
   Other companies seeking approval to market their tests are
Litton-Bionetics Inc., Kensington, Md.; Travenol-Genentech
Diagnostics, Cambridge, Mass., and Du Pont Co., Wilmington,
Del., which is affiliated with Biotech Research Laboratories
Inc., Rockville, Md.

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