HIV/AIDS is not something of the past. In 2008, 16,000 Americans lost their lives to the disease while 50,000 more were infected. And while the stigma that it is still a “gay disease” exists, the blunt fact remains that if you are having unprotected sex, heterosexual or otherwise, you should get tested. And considering an estimated 250,000 at-risk persons don’t get tested and an even larger number who are positive but don’t know they are exist, the ill-grounded notion that this is “a thing of the 80s” becomes glaringly egregious.
But there is a silver-lining, give that getting tested has just become not only a bit easier, but much more respectful in regards to privacy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved OraQuick from Pennsylvania-based OraSure Technologies Inc. (OSUR), the first over-the-counter, at-home HIV test to be approved here in the States. And it can all be done without a doctor and without a laboratory, having been appoved by a panel in May.
Since the announcement, shares for the company have increased by 5.6%. With sales expected to reach some $20 million, the $40 saliva-based test kit that offers results in about 20 minutes will become available in the coming months. Compared to the 99% accuracy of OraSure’s popular rapid oral test that is currently in use at doctor’s offices, OraQuick runs at 93% accuracy.
“Knowing your status is an important factor in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV,” Karen Midthun, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a publicly released statement. “The availability of a home-use HIV test kit provides another option for individuals to get tested so that they can seek medical care, if appropriate.”