Corgenix, Tulane Announce Award of NIH Grant Extending Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Product Developme...( Recent Lassa fever outbreaks in Afric...),Health

Recent Lassa fever outbreaks in Africa show vital need for new products that can be processed in any clinical or field lab

DENVER and NEW ORLEANS, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Corgenix Medical Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: CONX), a worldwide developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, has announced an extension of the collaborative effort for developing test kits for the detection of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year grant to Tulane University for further development of the VHF kits. Collaborating with Corgenix and Tulane in this grant are Autoimmune Technologies, LLC, Vybion, Inc. and various partners in West Africa.

"We are extremely pleased to be part of this collaboration and to have received the NIH grant," said Douglass Simpson, Corgenix President and CEO. "We have made major strides in the development and clinical study phases and this will enable us to further develop the assays, complete the clinical studies and achieve full commercialization."

This is the second grant awarded to Tulane for Lassa virus products. Under the original grant awarded in 2005, the group developed and patented new recombinant proteins for Lassa virus and developed several viral detection products which were deployed in Africa for clinical testing. Under the new grant, Corgenix and the other partners will move the prototype Lassa products into full commercialization. Current tests typically require the culture of live Lassa virus in a high-containment laboratory to produce reagents. These tests are expensive, laborious to produce, and not commercially available, leaving no adequate options for laboratory diagnosis of VHFs in sub-Saharan Africa where most VHFs are endemic.

Joseph Fair, Ph.D., MPH, Director, Global Field Operations, Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, San Franci
'/>"/>