Oxford, UK and Billerica, MA, USA; 31 January 2006 – Oxford Immunotec Ltd, today announced the launch of a second generation product, T-SPOT®.TB 8, for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection and active TB disease. The launch of T-SPOT.TB 8 culminates a 15-month co-development programme with Millipore Corporation (NYSE:MIL) to develop a proprietary plate for performing the T-SPOT.TB test.
This plate allows the test to be conducted in lower batch sizes when smaller numbers of tests need to be performed simultaneously as the plate consists of several 8-well strips, which can be used individually. As such the product complements the higher throughput 96-well version, T-SPOT.TB 96, which is marketed already in Europe and other significant territories.
Commenting on the launch of T-SPOT.TB 8 Dr Peter Wrighton-Smith, idm Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Immunotec said, “This represents the achievement of a real milestone in the development of our product range, which will have broad utility across the T-SPOT technology platform. By offering a more flexible plate, our customers will be able to maximise the efficiency of their TB testing regime by utilising the best format of T-SPOT.TB for the clinical population, while delivering significant potential savings.”
“Millipore is proud to participate in co-developing products that respond to the needs of healthcare professionals worldwide,” said Jonathan DiVincenzo, Vice President of R&D and Marketing for Millipore’s Bioscience Division. “This successful launch stems from our co-development efforts with leading partners such as Oxford Immunotec.”
