Omega secures US patent

Medical testing kit maker Omega Diagnostics said this morning that its CD4 test for monitoring HIV-positive patients has been awarded a US patent.

It said the move widens the protection from territories where patents have already been granted in South Africa and the member states of the African Intellectual Property Organisation. It has patents pending in many other territories.

Chief executive Andrew Shepherd said: “We are delighted to learn of this US patent award, extending the patent protection which already exists for our novel CD4 point-of-care test, and which is testimony to the years of hard work done by our colleagues at the Burnet Institute in partnership with others.”