Bayer’s
automated HIV test gets FDA approval

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer reports that U.S. regulators approved its fully automated test for HIV. The German health care company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the test, called EHIV, which works by detecting antibodies to the virus. It is to be used on Bayer's ADVIA Centaur Immunoassay System. Bayer said it developed the EHIV test and will sell it under a business arrangement with U.S.-based health care company Johnson & Johnson. The test detects antibodies to HIV-1, HIV-2, and a subtype of HIV-1. The test is the first fully automated test and produces more accurate results by eliminating manual tasks. (Reuters, with additional reporting by The Advocate)