Navy Buys OraSure's HIV Test

The U.S. Navy has purchased 10,000 of OraSure Technologies Inc.'s OraQuick tests, which detect HIV antibodies within 20 minutes, to be used in the government's smallpox vaccination program. The test will be used to screen the Navy's sealift command personnel receiving the smallpox vaccine, which can cause complications for people with weakened immune systems and should not be given to people infected with HIV. "We are honored to make this test available to both military and health care personnel for this particular purpose," OraSure CEO Mike Gausling said Monday in a statement. The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday granted a waiver allowing OraQuick to be used in more than 100,000 clinics, doctors' offices and counseling centers. The Food and Drug Administration's November approval of OraQuick had limited the finger-stick test's use to about 38,000 certified laboratories.

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