LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Near-patient molecular diagnostics company Genedrive announced on Thursday that it will participate in an international multicentre trial, designed to assess the impact of outreach HCV diagnostics and therapy in a pharmacy setting when compared conventional treatment pathways.
The AIM-traded firm said the study, led by John Dillon, professor of hepatology and gastroenterology at the University of Dundee and funded by AbbVie, would cover up to 40 pharmacies across three sites in Scotland, Wales, and Australia.

It said the study, dubbed 'REACH', would focus on people undergoing opiate substitute therapy - a patient population traditionally resistant to travel, suggesting 'test and treat' outreach-based diagnostic and treatment pathways could provide an effective solution to the HCV epidemic in this population.

The study would determine if more HCV RNA positive people could be treated and cured, and would also examine whether the REACH pathway was more cost-effective than the conventional pathway, from the perspective of the NHS in the UK and Medicare in Australia.

Genedrive said the study was anticipated to enroll about 140 patients over its two years.

"The advancement of molecular diagnostics to the point of need will provide faster treatment decisions to patients who have difficulty accessing traditional centralised services," said Genedrive chief executive officer David Budd.

"We see the requirement for Test and Treat outside of centralised services as a common theme across our menu targets.

"We are very pleased to be working with professor Dillon in further proving the cost effectiveness and clinical benefits of Genedrive HCV-ID in another near patient setting."

Professor John Dillon of the University of Dundee added that he was "delighted" that the study was now starting.

"It is vital that if we are to eliminate HCV, we must find novel ways of using paradigm shifting technology like Genedrive HCV-ID in care pathways, to bring cure of HCV to the people who need it most."

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