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Oxford, UK; 29 March 2006 – Oxford Immunotec Ltd, the T cell measurement company, has today announced the outcome of a recent study, which confirmed that the Company’s T-SPOTTM.TB test is more suitable for repeated testing for tuberculosis than the traditionally used Tuberculin Skin Test (‘TST’). The study, which was completed by Luca Richeldi at Modena University Hospital, Italy, addressed one of the main shortcomings with the TST, that the boosting effect of repeat testing induces false positive results in uninfected people. This shortcoming has significant implications for the use of the TST in routine screening programs, including those for healthcare workers. In the study a group of 44 BCG unvaccinated people who had prior contact with a patient with confirmed multi-drug resistant TB were followed for a period of 2 years and tested with both the TST and T-SPOT.TB after 9, 15 and 24 months. At each time point all 44 individuals remained negative when tested with T-SPOT.TB whilst 3 of them had become TST positive. The results therefore showed that repeated testing did not result in the development of false positive results when using T-SPOT.TB. Commenting on the reported findings, Peter Wrighton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Immunotec said “This study clearly demonstrates that T-SPOT.TB is unaffected by prior TST testing, even in those individuals who show signs of TST boosting. It is clear that T-SPOT.TB offers a much more reliable tool in screening programs for healthcare workers and in other routine settings than the TST”. - ENDS - Notes to editors: About Oxford Immunotec Oxford Immunotec, the T cell measurement company, is headquartered near Oxford, UK. The Company develops and sells clinical diagnostic products based on its patented T-SPOT™ technology, the first regulatory approved method for directly quantifying antigen-specific T cells. T-SPOT is a simple and extremely accurate method of studying a person’s cellular immune response to infection and can be applied to diagnose and monitor any major disease driven by a T cell response. About T-SPOT™.TB T-SPOT™.TB is an in vitro T cell measurement assay used for diagnosing TB disease and latent TB infection and the first product from Oxford Immunotec using the T-SPOT technology. The product is extremely robust and offers unrivalled and maintained sensitivity in high risk and immunocompromised patient groups. T-SPOT.TB is approved for sale in Europe and is designed to replace the 115 year old Tuberculin Skin Test. As such it offers a substantially more accurate and effective tool for controlling the spread of TB, addressing a market of £600m. Unlike the traditional Tuberculin Skin Test, the T-SPOT.TB test incorporates a positive control, allowing the user to distinguish between a genuine negative result and one which is indeterminate (ie an inconclusive result) as a result of a technical failure. T-SPOT is a trademark of Oxford Immunotec. References 1 Repeat tuberculin testing does not induce false positive ELISPOT results – Richeldi et al Thorax Feb 2006 p180 For more information please contact: At Oxford Immunotec:
Dr Peter Wrighton-Smith, CEO or Mr Ian
Miscampbell, CFO Tel: +44 (0)1235 442780 Fax: +44 (0)1235 442781 Email: info@oxfordimmunotec.com At Northbank Communications: (for Oxford Immunotec)
Lorna
Watson, Senior Account Manager Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 8157 Fax: +44 (0)20 7886 8151 Email: l.watson@northbankcommunications.com
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