The Best Annual Meeting Abstract Award is given by the AACC Critical and Point-of-Care Testing Division in recognition of outstanding research for abstracts submitted and posters presented at the AACC annual meeting.

The Ebola research award and Lassa fever oral abstract of Corgenix Medical (Broomfield, CO, USA) receive the award recognized for its high quality poster abstract, “Development of a Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Ebola and Sudan Virus Detection,” presented at the AACC conference. Douglass Simpson, BS, MS, Corgenix president and CEO comments, “We’re pleased to accept this prestigious award, and we must also recognize our academic, research, and industry partners at the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium (VHFC), who have helped to make this possible. We are continuing with our efforts to develop breakthrough diagnostic products for detecting Ebola, Lassa, and other biologic agents. Rapid, accurate testing for these agents in difficult environments is critical to global public health and defense against bioterrorism threats.”

Corgenix and the VHFC were recently awarded a three-year, USD 2.9 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to continue work on the development of an Ebola rapid diagnostic test kit. Corgenix and the consortium have already developed and CE marked the ReLASV rapid diagnostic test for the Lassa fever virus.

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest ever recorded. Mr. Simpson said that it is clear that point-of-care (POC) testing will be needed in the future for the rapid identification and treatment of viral hemorrhagic fevers, including Lassa, Ebola, and Marburg.

Corgenix is also presenting an oral abstract titled “Suspected Lassa Fever (LF) Case Outcomes: A Comparison to a Non-Febrile Population in Sierra Leone.” The study was conducted to better identify and treat patients with Lassa, which can be difficult to distinguish from other illnesses such as malaria. Study results are being presented by Corgenix Regulatory and Clinical Affairs Specialist Bethany Belote and will be published in the October issue of Clinical Chemistry.