Subject: Saliva-Based AIDS Test Is Being Evaluated for Use
Date: Published: 10/23/90 (30 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology Brief -- Epitope Inc.:
    Biotech Firm's AIDS Test
    Is Being Evaluated for Use

    Epitope Inc. said its saliva-based AIDS diagnostic test is
 being evaluated for use.
    OraSure, a test for the HIV-1 infection, is being studied
 jointly by Organon Teknika Corp. of Oklahoma City and Home
 Office Reference Laboratory Inc. of Overland Park, Kan.
 Organon is a unit of Akzo N. V. of The Netherlands.
    If successful, Home Reference Laboratory, which serves
 more than 800 insurance firms in the U. S. and Canada, plans
 to offer the test in the first quarter of 1991.
    The test has not been approved by the Food and Drug
 Administration, but Epitope officials said the FDA allows
 laboratories to administer the tests before clinical trials
 are concluded.
    Officials of the Beaverton, Ore., company say the test is
 a safe alternative to blood-based testing for HIV-1.  The FDA
 approved the biotechnology firm's application to begin human
 clinical trials on OraSure in August.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]