CEPHEID WINS $3.3 MILLION NIAID GRANT TO DEVELOP RAPID TB TEST

Cepheid said Aug. 30 it had won a $3.3 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop rapid detection technology for tuberculosis (TB).

The firm develops and manufactures diagnostic tests for organisms and genetic-based diseases. Cepheid is partnering with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to adapt its GeneXpert diagnostic device, which provides results in less than 30 minutes, for the NIAID project.

The firm received approval in July for its in vitro diagnostic, the Xpert GBS, to detect Group B streptococcus, or GBS, in pregnant women. The test is used with the GeneXpert device and was approved in the "moderately complex" category under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.